Follow the F

Jakob Nielsen of useit.com has an interesting article discussing an eye-tracking study, which shows reading patterns of web page viewers. Turns out to be a F-shaped pattern: Readers' eyes start at the top, in a horizontal motion, then move down the page and do a second horizontal movement, then scan the left side of the page, in a vertical motion.

What does this mean in terms of designing a web page?

1. Visitors to your site won't — initially, at least — read everything that's on the page; they'll scan first.
2. Your first two paragraphs of copy (text) should be very important.
3. It's a good idea to start each paragraph, subheading, bullet point, etc. (i.e., the part of the left side of the page) with information-rich words to grab the reader's attention.