Eye-tracking studies: first impressions form quickly on the web
22.05.12
Sheng and Dahal found that their subjects spent about 2.6 seconds scanning a website before focusing on a particular section. They spent an average of 180 milliseconds focusing, or "fixating," on one particular section before moving on.
After each viewing of a website, Sheng and Dahal asked students to rate sites based on aesthetics, visual appeal and other design factors.
"The longer the participants stayed on the page, the more favorable their impressions were," Sheng says. "First impressions are important for keeping people on pages."
Sixteen of the 25 websites reviewed in the study were considered favorable by the subjects, Sheng says.
Through this research, Sheng and Dahal found that seven sections of the reviewed websites attracted the most interest from users. The participants spent an average of 20 seconds on each website.
The website sections that drew the most interest from viewers were as follows:
The institution's logo.
Source: Missouri S&T News and Research