Compete on Usability & UX

‘Over the last year online banking has attracted 6.3 million users, but a massive 3.1 million of those have closed their accounts already due to poor website design and inefficient service.’
- Internet Money Issue 4

In the last article, we discussed definitions and issues related to User Experience (UX) and Usability. Through the current article, we move ahead in UX Engineering. When designing a site, many times designers overlook the obvious. Once doled out by Mrs. Neeta Chohan Unny, I take pleasure in sharing this.

Eye tracking research has shown that while interaction with websites can vary, there are some common items to consider. The following items are taken from the post mentioned above. While the findings may not be indicative of all sites and of all eye tracking studies, they do present an interesting topic of discussion.

Using Eye Tracking for Website Design

 Initial eye movement focuses on the upper left corner of the page.

It shouldn’t be surprising that users look at WebPages in this way, as most

computer applications are designed with the top left hand side as the main

focus. You can do your website a favor by keeping this format in mind when

creating a design.

 Readers ignore banners. Ads may be the bread and butter of your

site, but studies have shown that readers largely ignore banner ads, often

focusing for only a fraction of a second. — We like to call this “banner

blindness”.

 Type size influences viewing behavior. Want to change how people

look at your page? Change the size of your font. Smaller fonts increase

focused viewing behavior while larger fonts encourage scanning.

 Shorter paragraphs perform better than long ones. Information on

your page should be designed for the short attention span of most Internet

users. EDITOR’S NOTE: This depends on the user and the stage of the research

or buying funnel that they may be in. If they are early on in the research

phrase they may be more prone to compile as much data as possible (providing

that it is relevant to their interests.)

 One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column

formats. Don’t overwhelm visitors to your site with too much information.

Simpler really is better in some cases. — Again this depends on the user.

It states the obvious, as the less content there is to view, the

higher/better the eye fixation will be. People can become easily distracted.

The less distractions they have the better the experience they will receive.

 Clean, clear faces in images attract more eye fixation. While they

might look good with your design, abstract and artsy photos aren’t going to

garner much reader attention.

 Users spend a lot of time looking at buttons and menus. Because of

this, you’ll want to put in some extra time making sure that yours are

well-designed. After all, they not only draw a lot of eye fixation, they are

one of the most important elements of your site.

 Lists hold reader attention longer. One way you can break up the

paragraphs in your content and keep users looking through your site is to

make frequent use of a list format for your articles. Use numbers or bullet

points to highlight important information within your content. It will make

your site more scannable and easier for users to find the information that

they’re looking for. — It’s all about user experience. Attention span for

users may vary, but if you present your content in a nice clean manner,

users will stick around longer. Site stickiness is something that most sites

need to improve.

 White space is good. While it might be tempting to put something in

every corner of your page, it’s actually better to leave some of your site

free of any text. Sites with too much going on tend to overwhelm users and

they ignored a large part of the content.

 Navigation tools work better when placed at the top of the page.

Ideally, you don’t want readers to just look at the initial page they came

to on your site, you want them to stick around and look at other interesting

things as well. You can help send them in the right direction by making your

navigation easy to find and use by placing it at the top of the page.