42244 0 3 econsultancy_xml <p>In his latest <a href="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/fancy-formatting.html">Alertbox</a> post, Jakob uses the example of the homepage of the <a href="http://www.census.gov/">US Census Bureau</a>, which displays a US population clock in big red letters in the top right hand corner of the page. </p> <p>According to his eyetracking study, 86% of visitors to the site were unable to find out the population figure, despite its prominent placement. Some even decided to search Google instead. </p> <p> <img alt="" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1433/1327867581_427dddb775_o.jpg" /> </p> <p>Jakob also put the failure down to the use of the term 'population clock' , suggesting that a simpler, more descriptive line of text would have been more effective. </p> <p>It's also possible that users failed to find the figure they were looking for as they were used to seeing advertising in that area of a website. </p> <p>Jakob said: </p> <blockquote> <p> <em>"It's clear that users only fixated on the first third of the number that shows current population. In other words, people scanned that area, but didn't actually read the number."</em> </p> </blockquote> <p> <strong>Related stories:</strong> <a href="/blog/1192-interview-with-jakob-nielsen">Interview with Jakob Nielsen</a> </p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph>In his latest <Link URL="http://www.useit.com/alertbox/fancy-formatting.html" Window="Self">Alertbox</Link> post, Jakob uses the example of the homepage of the <Link URL="http://www.census.gov/" Window="Self">US Census Bureau</Link>, which displays a US population clock in big red letters in the top right hand corner of the page. </Paragraph> <Paragraph>According to his eyetracking study, 86% of visitors to the site were unable to find out the population figure, despite its prominent placement. Some even decided to search Google instead. </Paragraph> <Paragraph Align="Center"> <Image Source="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1433/1327867581_427dddb775_o.jpg"> </Image> </Paragraph> <Paragraph Align="Left">Jakob also put the failure down to the use of the term 'population clock' , suggesting that a simpler, more descriptive line of text would have been more effective. </Paragraph> <Paragraph Align="Left">It's also possible that users failed to find the figure they were looking for as they were used to seeing advertising in that area of a website. </Paragraph> <Paragraph Align="Left">Jakob said: </Paragraph> <Block> <Paragraph Align="Left"> <Quote>"It's clear that users only fixated on the first third of the number that shows current population. In other words, people scanned that area, but didn't actually read the number."</Quote> </Paragraph> </Block> <Paragraph Align="Left"> <Emphasis>Related stories:</Emphasis> <Link URL="/blog/1192-interview-with-jakob-nielsen" Window="Self">Interview with Jakob Nielsen</Link> </Paragraph> </FormattedContent> 2007-09-05T10:15:00+01:00 0 1 econsultancy_xml <p> <strong>Another nugget of wisdom from Jakob Nielsen - website visitors will often ignore heavily formatted areas of a website as they look too much like advertising.</strong> </p> <p>The usability guru says surfers have trained their brains to ignore 'fancy formatting', in a form of banner blindness. This suggests that ads should be made to look more like actual content in order to attract attention - something <a href="/blog/1658-jakob-nielsen-and-google-on-collision-course">Jakob also covered recently</a>.</p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>Another nugget of wisdom from Jakob Nielsen - website visitors will often ignore heavily formatted areas of a website as they look too much like advertising.</Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>The usability guru says surfers have trained their brains to ignore 'fancy formatting', in a form of banner blindness. This suggests that ads should be made to look more like actual content in order to attract attention - something <Link URL="/blog/1658-jakob-nielsen-and-google-on-collision-course" Window="Self">Jakob also covered recently</Link>.</Paragraph> </FormattedContent> false 1706 364159 Users ignore heavy formatting - Nielsen false 2007-09-05T10:44:00+01:00 users-ignore-heavy-formatting-nielsen 2009-04-28T22:57:33+01:00 2009-04-28T22:57:33+01:00 158