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Eyetracking points the way to effective news article design
What if you could engage users on a page for half the time, yet have them remember one-third more of the content? That’s what happened in a 2005 usability study by Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice Coyne.
How Long Do Users Stay on Web Pages?
Visitors spend less than four seconds on 25% of the web pages they visit, according to usability expert Jakob Nielsen’s analysis of a study by University of Hamburg and University of Hannover researchers.
How People Read On the Web: The Eyetracking Evidence
Kara Pernice, Kathryn Whitenton and Jakob Nielsen observed more than 300 people making 1.5 eye fixations on hundreds of websites. The result: 102 detailed findings about how people skim and read on the web, and 83 recommendations for helping them do it more efficiently.
How Users Read on the Web
This earliest research on writing for the web still stands the test of time.
Not quite the average: An empirical study of Web use
Fewer than one in 10 page views extend beyond two minutes, according to this analysis of 50,000 page views by highly educated European professionals. And that includes unattended browser windows left open in the background.
Show Numbers as Numerals When Writing for Online Readers
Numerals are more scannable than text, according to Jakob Nielsen’s eye-tracking research: “Numerals often stop the wandering eye and attract fixations, even when they’re embedded within a mass of words that users otherwise ignore.”
Towards Better Measurement of Attention and Satisfaction in Mobile Search
Mobile visitors look at search engine results pages in the middle, like at a TV, researchers from Google and Emory University found in this study.
Understanding web browsing behaviors through Weibull analysis of dwell time
According to a study by Microsoft Research, Web visitors: 1) Decide whether to stay on a page within 10 seconds. 2) Are likely to stay longer if they make it over the 30-second hump. 3) At that point, may stay as long as 2 minutes or more.
User Experience for Mobile Applications and Websites
Nielsen Norman Group usability research report with 383 tips for improving user interfaces for touchscreen smartphones.