Comments on: Lessons from Eye Tracking http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/ Make Money Online Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:19:19 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » links for 2006-05-31 http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-324277 Anne 2.0 » Blog Archive » links for 2006-05-31 Wed, 31 May 2006 23:23:55 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-324277 [...] Lessons from Eye Tracking: ProBlogger Blog Tips Eye tracking video of Squidoo shows what attracts users’ eyes: images, lists, headings. Most users avoid or merely skim large chunks of text. They avoid ads too. (tags: usability marketing webdesign advertising) [...] [...] Lessons from Eye Tracking: ProBlogger Blog Tips Eye tracking video of Squidoo shows what attracts users’ eyes: images, lists, headings. Most users avoid or merely skim large chunks of text. They avoid ads too. (tags: usability marketing webdesign advertising) [...]

]]> By: Michael Rew http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-322392 Michael Rew Wed, 31 May 2006 15:33:04 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-322392 Blogs should use navigational buttons...big, fat, conspiciously colored arrow buttons with captions that read "Next Post" and "Previous Post." Seriously. Click on my link and check out the buttons on my poetry site. At one point, my site was almost completely text-only. There were no buttons. "Next Poem" and "Previous Poem" links were text. When I switched from that format back to a button-navigation format, my page views went up noticeably...and stayed up. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND why blogs do not make post-to-post navigation easier. Even with this blog, if you have several posts I want to read, I cannot find links to the next or previous posts. So I have to hit IE's back button to get back to my Web-based blog reader in order to get to the next post I want to read. Yes, I could click on the title link, but that requires scrolling all the way back up. So far, only Typepad seems to provide post-to-post navigation, but as text links, and then at the top of blog posts. Very annoying. The buttons should be on the side of the post and/or at the top and bottom of the post (unless your posts are small enough, like mine, to warrant just one set of buttons). This may not seem critical to regular blog readers who use blog reading software. But plenty of Web surfers do not have special blog reading software. They visit your site like they visit any other site. So a set of buttons would work well for them. Blogs should use navigational buttons…big, fat, conspiciously colored arrow buttons with captions that read “Next Post” and “Previous Post.” Seriously. Click on my link and check out the buttons on my poetry site.

At one point, my site was almost completely text-only. There were no buttons. “Next Poem” and “Previous Poem” links were text. When I switched from that format back to a button-navigation format, my page views went up noticeably…and stayed up.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND why blogs do not make post-to-post navigation easier. Even with this blog, if you have several posts I want to read, I cannot find links to the next or previous posts. So I have to hit IE’s back button to get back to my Web-based blog reader in order to get to the next post I want to read. Yes, I could click on the title link, but that requires scrolling all the way back up.

So far, only Typepad seems to provide post-to-post navigation, but as text links, and then at the top of blog posts. Very annoying. The buttons should be on the side of the post and/or at the top and bottom of the post (unless your posts are small enough, like mine, to warrant just one set of buttons).

This may not seem critical to regular blog readers who use blog reading software. But plenty of Web surfers do not have special blog reading software. They visit your site like they visit any other site. So a set of buttons would work well for them.

]]> By: Eyetracking revisited - S-O-S SEO Blog http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-322384 Eyetracking revisited - S-O-S SEO Blog Wed, 31 May 2006 15:31:34 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-322384 [...] Gefunden bei ProBloggers Lessons from Eye Tracking, der auch noch einige weitere interessante Beobachtungen zum Besten gibt. [...] [...] Gefunden bei ProBloggers Lessons from Eye Tracking, der auch noch einige weitere interessante Beobachtungen zum Besten gibt. [...]

]]> By: Eyetracking revisited - S-O-S SEO Blog http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-322307 Eyetracking revisited - S-O-S SEO Blog Wed, 31 May 2006 15:18:51 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-322307 [...] Gefunden bei ProBloggers Lessons from Eye Tracking, der auch noch einige interessante Beobachtungen zu Besten gibt. [...] [...] Gefunden bei ProBloggers Lessons from Eye Tracking, der auch noch einige interessante Beobachtungen zu Besten gibt. [...]

]]> By: Ben Yoskovitz http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-322038 Ben Yoskovitz Wed, 31 May 2006 14:36:00 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-322038 Eyetracking studies are always fascinating to me. Although generally I think they show the same results over and over (we are talking about one behavior - web surfing, so this makes sense) I think there's still a lot to be learned. I used to really enjoy the stuff coming from Eyetools Research (http://blog.eyetools.net) but they haven't updated their blog since July 2005 so who knows what's going on. And you can also use Google Analytics in some ways for this, with their "site overlay" feature. It doesn't give you eyetracking data but it does tell you where people are clicking. With a large enough data set you can start to learn about what people are reading, where, why, how... Eyetracking studies are always fascinating to me. Although generally I think they show the same results over and over (we are talking about one behavior – web surfing, so this makes sense) I think there’s still a lot to be learned.

I used to really enjoy the stuff coming from Eyetools Research (http://blog.eyetools.net) but they haven’t updated their blog since July 2005 so who knows what’s going on.

And you can also use Google Analytics in some ways for this, with their “site overlay” feature. It doesn’t give you eyetracking data but it does tell you where people are clicking. With a large enough data set you can start to learn about what people are reading, where, why, how…

]]> By: James Thoenes http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-321841 James Thoenes Wed, 31 May 2006 13:51:14 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-321841 It does seem like any graphic does get attention with some viewers. For some the eye follows the mouse but not the exact spot the mouse always is. Kinda reading the text next to the button to see what its for. I was surprised how many go to the upper right vs. upper left where Google suggests to place Adsense. Maybe because there is not navigation on the upper left? It does seem like any graphic does get attention with some viewers. For some the eye follows the mouse but not the exact spot the mouse always is. Kinda reading the text next to the button to see what its for.
I was surprised how many go to the upper right vs. upper left where Google suggests to place Adsense. Maybe because there is not navigation on the upper left?

]]> By: Dominic http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-320336 Dominic Wed, 31 May 2006 08:56:35 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-320336 Yep, those AdSense adds could do with blending in a bit. Yep, those AdSense adds could do with blending in a bit.

]]> By: Centrerion Canadian Politics http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/05/31/lessons-from-eye-tracking/comment-page-1/#comment-319159 Centrerion Canadian Politics Wed, 31 May 2006 05:08:49 +0000 http://www.problogger.net/?p=2672#comment-319159 Yaro at Entrepreneur's journey suggests that people are developping ad blindness to what he calls the 'banner ads of web 2.0' (paraphrase). This is a good reminder, if not entirely new, as you said.. MOST IMPORTANT is how this ought to affect DESIGN. For me, using an excerpt javascript on my blog, this means I'll have PICTURES RIGHT BEFORE the script cutoff, to encourage people to scroll and see more of the site. Ex.: Site Header text text text PIC click here to read full post text text ... NOTICE THE CAPS TO LET PEOPLE KNOW THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF A POST? There's another idea... You may want to see how people look at an all-text site, to compare what kind of text gets more attention, when only text is around. Might give insights beyond using bold and headers. Yaro at Entrepreneur’s journey suggests that people are developping ad blindness to what he calls the ‘banner ads of web 2.0′ (paraphrase).
This is a good reminder, if not entirely new, as you said..

MOST IMPORTANT is how this ought to affect DESIGN.
For me, using an excerpt javascript on my blog, this means I’ll have PICTURES RIGHT BEFORE the script cutoff, to encourage people to scroll and see more of the site.

Ex.:

Site Header
text
text
text
PIC
click here to read full post
text
text
…

NOTICE THE CAPS TO LET PEOPLE KNOW THE IMPORTANT PARTS OF A POST? There’s another idea…

You may want to see how people look at an all-text site, to compare what kind of text gets more attention, when only text is around. Might give insights beyond using bold and headers.

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