People read web sites
differently than they read books or newspapers. Not only is the web interactive,
but when someone visits a web site, they usually have a specific goal in mind.
How people read web pages: People tend to scan web pages looking for
links or information that are of interest to them. For this reason you cannot
assume people will start in the upper, left corner of the page and go left to
right working their way down the page. A person's eyes will move around the
page, stopping on graphics or text that are of interest. In some cases, things
will draw the attention because of the content. In other instances, the
placement, size or color of an item will attract scrutiny.
Simple guidelines for information placement: Because there are so many
variables and since people perceive things differently, there are no hard and
fast rules to information placement. There are, however, some principles that
will generally help you attract attention to important elements on your page.
Important content or links should be in the top third of the page. If a user
does not see the content he wants in the first few seconds, he may click away
from the page before reaching the bottom, especially if scrolling is involved.
Make links obvious. People want to know what is clickable without testing
every element of the page. Underline text links and make clickable graphics look
like buttons to give users visual clues.
Make it easy for people to find the most common options. If you want
visitors to use an option on your web site, make sure it is not only placed
conveniently but that it stands out. In other words, on a retail site you do not
want to hide the "Purchase" button.
Write for the web: Unless the intent of your website is to carry a
catalogue of long technical articles, you will want to make sure your content is
short and succinct. Since people scan for information on the web, use spaces,
headings and bullets to organize your text. This makes it much easier to read
and to jump to important information.
Use open space to your advantage: Try to avoid cluttered web pages. A
page overstuffed with text, links and graphics, with elements all misaligned, is
visually confusing and hard to navigate. Instead, use open space to help display
elements in an attractive and organized fashion.