WebWise Solutions

Check out this interesting analysis posted in USA Today exploring the way people respond to photos on web pages, how they read/scan for information, and how they have learned to tune out stuff they think will be ads.

Very useful for you as you present information to your web communities.

Excerpt:

Using sophisticated eye-tracking equipment, the Fremont, Calif., firm was able to track what consumers really look at on the Web vs. what they say they look at....

Other findings from the firm's study:

• Individuals read Web pages in an "F" pattern. They're more inclined to read longer sentences at the top of a page and less and less as they scroll down. That makes the first two words of a sentence very important.
  
  

  "People are extremely good at screening out things and focusing in on a small number of salient page elements," says Jakob Nielsen, a principal at the firm.

• Surfers connect well with images of people looking directly at them. It helps if the person in the photo is attractive, but not too good looking.
  
  

  Photos of people who are clearly professional models are a turnoff. "The person has to be approachable," Pernice Coyne says.

• Images in the middle of a page can present an obstacle course.
• People respond to pictures that provide useful information, not just decoration.
• Consumers will peek at ads in search engines as a "secondary thing," Nielsen says, since they usually have specific product targets in mind.

Read the whole article here >