232 users looked at thousands of Web pages. We found that users’ main reading behavior was fairly consistent across many different sites and tasks. This dominant reading pattern looks somewhat like an F and has the following three components:
- Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F’s top bar.
- Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that typically covers a shorter area than the previous movement. This additional element forms the F’s lower bar.
- Finally, users scan the content’s left side in a vertical movement. Sometimes this is a fairly slow and systematic scan that appears as a solid stripe on an eyetracking heatmap. Other times users move faster, creating a spottier heatmap. This last element forms the F’s stem.
It’s funny, in the last couple weeks I have been thinking about how I’ve been programmed to scan the top, down the left, and then across to the right. Specifically, I’ve recently become cognizant of the fact that I completely skip the section just below the top most section, usually this means I completely miss the second paragraph. Some one should put this to practice by providing complete nonsense in the second paragraph. I suppose, this is the second paragraph. I’ll bet I can provide: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nullam in neque vel nisi pharetra sodales. Donec dignissim gravida tellus. Etiam at nunc, and no one would notice.
Aaron Fulkerson 