Article Surfing Archive

When you design a webpage, you should be aware that most readers are actually scanning the page. There are areas of the page that are not even scanned and are all but ignored. Being aware of this will improve your webpage design so you put the important information in the areas of the page that are read by the viewer.

One article that I read by Jakob Nielsen on this subject started with the question, "How is a Web Page Read" and the response was, "It isn't". The conclusion reached is that very few people read a webpage completely. Rather, most people scan the page looking for valuable content (individual words and sentences).

The term that you should search on Google that addresses this subject is "eye tracking". There are companies that perform studies on how the average viewer reads (scans) a web page.

The viewing pattern for a page is generally in the form of an upper case "F". The viewer usually starts at the top left page. It is recommended that your critical information be in this part of the page. The reader usually reads across the top of the first paragraph. The reader may then read the second or part of the second paragraph. He/she will then skip down to the middle of the page and reads part way across. This creates the shorter horizontal part of the "F". The reader will then read down the left side of the page looking for interesting content.

Based on this information, I decided to reorganize the Boomer eZine home page to present the important information within the "F" pattern that is read on the page.

I recommend that you do some reading about this subject so you can improve the design of your content web pages. It will pay dividends since more people will read and digest your key content.

Copyright 2006 John Howe, Inc.