One of the more novel methods web designers are using to determine what works best on their sites is eye-tracking. By mounting a camera on a monitor and recording eye movements as a person interacts with their sites, they're able to precisely document what works - and what doesn't.

Joe Dysart

Sometimes, the results are surprising.

A 2004 eye-tracking study of news-oriented sites by the Poynter Institute found that text - and not graphics - was the major factor that influenced whether or not a web visitor would read an article.

Specifically, researchers found that web users tend to focus on the dominant headline of an article - ­and not on the primary photo when deciding whether or not to read an article.

Equally surprising to researchers, web users tend to view text ads most intently - and not graphics-based ads, when considering a purchase.

In practice, subjects participating in the study also lingered four times longer over text ads as compared to graphics ads.

"Text rules on the PC screen," concludes Jay Small, a board member of the New Media Federation.

Other organizations, like advertising giant Ogilvy are using eye-tracking studies to glean insights about how consumers are reading and interacting with graphic-rich marketing emails.

Will Schroeder, a principal usability specialist with Mathworks, offers additional insights from eye-tracking studies:

• Information positioned at the center of a web page gets the most attention
• All key information on a web page should be accessible without scrolling
• After gravitating to the center of each web page, most web users look left, and then right
• Many users will only view the top two-thirds of any web page
• Organizations placing ads at the center of their web pages will find those ads ignored by users

For more insights, visit Eyetools, an eye-tracking analysis firm.

Joe Dysart is an internet speaker and business consultant based in Thousand Oaks, California. Reach him  by e-mail at joe@joedysart.com.