Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Location location location: Viewing patterns on WWW pages
Laura Granka
Google, Inc.
granka@google.com
Helene Hembrooke
Cornell University
hah4@cornell.edu
Geri Gay
Cornell University
gkg1@cornell.edu
1 Abstract
This study investigates which components of a web page are most ikely to both attract and maintain a viewer's attention. We measure these two aspects of viewing behavior—attention onset and maintenance—through an analysis of eye movements on three Web page components—page location, element size, and nformation density. More specifically, the present research addresses how the overall composition and structure of a Web page influences an individual’s ability to perceive content.
2 Introduction
Ocular data were analyzed with respect to location, element size, and information density (visual salience). For location analysis, each web page was divided into a grid of nine equal regions
measured by pixel coordinates and eye movements were measured relative to these regions. To analyze element size, ERICA’s Gazetracker software was used to partition areas of unique content (e.g. titles, pictures, links, content, and advertisement) using the LookZone feature. The area of these regions were then calculated based on pixel coordinates. Finally, we derived a metric of information density to measure of the relative salience of elements on the page. This was calculated by building on Shannon’s [1948] information theory algorithm for determining entropy, and for the case of Web stimuli, our formula specifically focused on the hue and image contrast between neighboring pixel values.
3 Methods
34 participants viewed three commercial homepages: Amazon, Cnet, and Ebay. These pages were selected due to their relative popularity [Gay et al. 2001] and because their homepage serves as the primary space to provide consumers with company-related promotions. While participants were given 15 seconds to browse the site at their leisure.
4 Results
Overall, we found that location most significantly impacts attention onset, while element size affects attention maintenance. Also, analyzing viewing patterns relative to the information
density (visual salience) of page elements produces behaviors representative of "banner blindness." These findings have direct implications for the placement of online content and advertising and can be used by designers to maximize the structure and organization of home pages. Analysis of location data indicated that certain regions of a web page are indeed significantly more likely to capture users' initial attention and be viewed first. Specifically the top left, mid-left and center were the top three regions where users first fixated.
Secondly, we found that the size of page elements did not significantly influence or help to attract a viewer's initial attention. We had expected that larger elements would more readily attract attention, but this was not the case. While not affecting attention onset, size was significantly related to attention maintenance, with larger elements attracting both more fixations and subsequently longer total viewing times. However, this result should be viewed with caution as element size may directly correlate with information density.
Finally information density, similar to element size, did not impact attention onset, but did significantly affect attention maintenance. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated that
location and size accounted for most of the variability in the model. The type of content or advertisement (text, image, graphic) did not contribute significantly to the outcome.
5 Implications and Conclusions
From an applied perspective, the research presented here has direct implications for advertisers. One very interesting result from this study is that size and information density did not contribute significantly to attention onset. One reason for this is that many of the large and "information dense" regions were isolated from the primary site content as advertisements. In spite of attempts to make these ads stand out by using bold contrasts and backgrounds, users are likely to “visually disconnect” from these regions because the elements appear extraneous to both the goals of the site and the user's own needs/motivations for accessing the site. While this explanation requires systematic investigation, we surmise that it may contribute to findings
reported by others concerning “banner blindness" [Benway 1998; Pagendarm and Schaumburg 2001]. Thus, our findings offer a position that the newer text-based ads, selected specific to page content, may indeed be more effective at maintaining a viewer's attention.
6 References
ENWAY B , J.P. 1998. Banner blindness: The irony of attention grabbing on the World Wide Web, Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 42nd .
AGENDARM CHAUMBURG P , M. and S , H. 2001. Why Are Users Banner-Blind? The Impact of Navigation Style on the Perception of Web Banners, Journal of Digital Information,
http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk.
ORMAN N , D.A. 1999. Commentary: Banner Blindness, Human Cognition and Web Design, Internetworking.
SHANNON, S.E. 1948. A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Tech. J. 27, 379-423, 623-656.
GAY, G., STAFANONE, M., GRACE-MARTIN, M., and HEMBROOKE, H. 2001. The effects of wireless computing in collaborative learning environments. International Journal of Human
Computer Interaction, 13(2), 257-276.
Copyright (C) 2006 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.
Google, Inc.
granka@google.com
Helene Hembrooke
Cornell University
hah4@cornell.edu
Geri Gay
Cornell University
gkg1@cornell.edu
1 Abstract
This study investigates which components of a web page are most ikely to both attract and maintain a viewer's attention. We measure these two aspects of viewing behavior—attention onset and maintenance—through an analysis of eye movements on three Web page components—page location, element size, and nformation density. More specifically, the present research addresses how the overall composition and structure of a Web page influences an individual’s ability to perceive content.
2 Introduction
Ocular data were analyzed with respect to location, element size, and information density (visual salience). For location analysis, each web page was divided into a grid of nine equal regions
measured by pixel coordinates and eye movements were measured relative to these regions. To analyze element size, ERICA’s Gazetracker software was used to partition areas of unique content (e.g. titles, pictures, links, content, and advertisement) using the LookZone feature. The area of these regions were then calculated based on pixel coordinates. Finally, we derived a metric of information density to measure of the relative salience of elements on the page. This was calculated by building on Shannon’s [1948] information theory algorithm for determining entropy, and for the case of Web stimuli, our formula specifically focused on the hue and image contrast between neighboring pixel values.
3 Methods
34 participants viewed three commercial homepages: Amazon, Cnet, and Ebay. These pages were selected due to their relative popularity [Gay et al. 2001] and because their homepage serves as the primary space to provide consumers with company-related promotions. While participants were given 15 seconds to browse the site at their leisure.
4 Results
Overall, we found that location most significantly impacts attention onset, while element size affects attention maintenance. Also, analyzing viewing patterns relative to the information
density (visual salience) of page elements produces behaviors representative of "banner blindness." These findings have direct implications for the placement of online content and advertising and can be used by designers to maximize the structure and organization of home pages. Analysis of location data indicated that certain regions of a web page are indeed significantly more likely to capture users' initial attention and be viewed first. Specifically the top left, mid-left and center were the top three regions where users first fixated.
Secondly, we found that the size of page elements did not significantly influence or help to attract a viewer's initial attention. We had expected that larger elements would more readily attract attention, but this was not the case. While not affecting attention onset, size was significantly related to attention maintenance, with larger elements attracting both more fixations and subsequently longer total viewing times. However, this result should be viewed with caution as element size may directly correlate with information density.
Finally information density, similar to element size, did not impact attention onset, but did significantly affect attention maintenance. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated that
location and size accounted for most of the variability in the model. The type of content or advertisement (text, image, graphic) did not contribute significantly to the outcome.
5 Implications and Conclusions
From an applied perspective, the research presented here has direct implications for advertisers. One very interesting result from this study is that size and information density did not contribute significantly to attention onset. One reason for this is that many of the large and "information dense" regions were isolated from the primary site content as advertisements. In spite of attempts to make these ads stand out by using bold contrasts and backgrounds, users are likely to “visually disconnect” from these regions because the elements appear extraneous to both the goals of the site and the user's own needs/motivations for accessing the site. While this explanation requires systematic investigation, we surmise that it may contribute to findings
reported by others concerning “banner blindness" [Benway 1998; Pagendarm and Schaumburg 2001]. Thus, our findings offer a position that the newer text-based ads, selected specific to page content, may indeed be more effective at maintaining a viewer's attention.
6 References
ENWAY B , J.P. 1998. Banner blindness: The irony of attention grabbing on the World Wide Web, Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 42nd .
AGENDARM CHAUMBURG P , M. and S , H. 2001. Why Are Users Banner-Blind? The Impact of Navigation Style on the Perception of Web Banners, Journal of Digital Information,
http://jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk.
ORMAN N , D.A. 1999. Commentary: Banner Blindness, Human Cognition and Web Design, Internetworking.
SHANNON, S.E. 1948. A mathematical theory of communication. Bell System Tech. J. 27, 379-423, 623-656.
GAY, G., STAFANONE, M., GRACE-MARTIN, M., and HEMBROOKE, H. 2001. The effects of wireless computing in collaborative learning environments. International Journal of Human
Computer Interaction, 13(2), 257-276.
Copyright (C) 2006 by the Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.
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