pure design

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How the eyes move across a screenThe Stanford/Poynter research is the first known study of how

readers read on the web, conducted using Eye-Track technology.

A few highlights of the findings:

Users’ eyes go first not to photographs or graphics, but to text.

Briefs or captions are first. Next, they come back to photos or

graphics, often not until they have returned to the first page after

clicking away.

We learn that the designer’s first chance to engage the reader is

through text. We continue to see patterns in which text is sought

out and skimmed or read.

Much research continues, and even though the Stanford/Poynter

study indicates that text is preferred over photos, I attribute this to

the fact that many news web sites do not use photos properly, often

copying the newspaper layout. As a result, photos are presented in

a reduced format and their impact is lost. An early study conducted

at the Poynter Institute, showed that photos were the first point of

entry for print readers. Why? Because most of the time, papers

publish dominant photos that command instant attention. When

we reduce a photograph to the size of a postcard, impact disap-

pears. However, if photos are presented separate, and sized appro-

priately, users will look to them as a key piece of the story.