• by December 13, 2000

In a recent Ziff-Davis article entitled Smart Business, research findings were able to precipitate an outline of things to consider in web presentations. But of more importance, to the research community in support of advertising in today's fickle market, is the methodology by which the findings were developed.

Here's the outline based on eye scans, or a TM term: GazeTraces, which follows the tester's line of sight and the length of time spent searching, to determine what they look at first -- and what holds their attention when they shop on the Web. May we suggest that in planning your emarketing strategies and designs that you at least visit www.eyetracing.com for an interesting review.

For A Web Presentation, the report says…

Dumb It Down

- Simple navigational tools—tabs and hyperlinks—work better than elaborate and detailed tools

Lose the Lists

- Customers don't like to select items from long lists—they often miss the product they’re trying to find

Search Engine Tune-Up

- When shopping for a specific item, customers would rather use product search engines than click through pages Center Stage

- Customers' eyes land immediately on the center of the page. This as prime real estate and graphics work best

Lay It Out

- Easy-to-read layout works best

Readability Counts

- Larger fonts and an open design

Too Simple

- Users were confused by the overly simple category labels

Search Party

- Too many search buttons left users confused

The whole report.