In my previous blog post entitled, Keeping your head above the fold, I discussed the amount of attention readers give to the vertical dimension of web pages. However, how exactly do readers view the horizontal aspect of web pages?
Web usability guru Dr. Jakob Nielsen recently conducted a study analyzing viewing patterns along the horizontal dimension.
According to Nielsen (2010), “Web users spend 69% of their time viewing the left half of the page and 30% viewing the right half. A conventional layout is thus more likely to make sites profitable” (Summary section).
As I mentioned previously, web designers should always keep the short attention span of readers in mind when designing for a target audience.
Nielsen (2010) further adds, “Information to the right of the initially-visible area is in essence ‘below the fold,’ except that they are beyond a right-hand fold instead of a bottom-of-window fold, and thus not literally "below." Another way of looking at vertical vs. horizontal scrolling is that users allocate 20% of their attention past the fold in the vertical dimension but only 1% past the fold in the horizontal dimension” (para. 6)
Moreover, designers should stick to conventional layout to maximize web usability.
Nielsen, J. (2010, April 6). Horizontal attention leans left. Retrieved from http://www.useit.com/alertbox/horizontal-attention.html
2 comments:
Considering the results of Nielson's study, do you think bloggers should use the popular right sidebar or consider a lefthand sidebar? Should subscription links and search bars that might normally be on the right side of the head or within the sidebar be more appropriate on the left?
From what I have read, it is recommended to leave the sidebar items to the right so the focus is on the actual content.
If users find the content interesting, then they will be more inclined to scan for the side bar items.
For example, I am not going to click on a subscription link upon my first visit to a website without ever reading any of the content first. Therefore, I agree with the recommendation.
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