How to optimise your website

This week something very powerful when you want to design a website, brochure anything else really...

Whether we know it or not, there are patterns in how we read. There are also some commonalities among people and how they read that have been collected through extensive studies that track how the eyes move when reading a page.

One of the most common ways of reading is known as the F-shaped pattern so let's take a deeper dive into what this is and how it can help your overall design strategies.

Understanding the F-Shaped Reading Pattern

Basically, when eye tracking was used to show how people read web pages, especially heavy text pages, it would show the movement of the eyes drawing out the letter F. This is done through a few steps that the eyes take when reading online.

???????????A step-by-step process of how our eyes work:

??????There's the first scan the eyes make when one lands on a page and starts absorbing the content. This is a very common reading pattern of simply reading across the top, from left to right. It's also usually the title of the article or the name of the page they are reading.

??????After this initial scan, the reader's eyes end up moving down a bit and eventually stop. Another scan of the page occurs from left to right. But this time it's not as long as it was with the initial scan. This helps to form the second bar of the letter F.

??????From here, users will continue to scroll down (vertically) primarily to find out the topics that are of interest to them when it comes to the article or content they are trying to absorb. This is what finishes creating the letter F with this vertical line.

Why does the F-Shaped pattern matter to me?

Of course, it's important to note that it's not always a perfect F-shaped pattern, but it does help to showcase where people are looking on your site, and that is invaluable information. It assists those designing their heavy text news pages to know where the eyeballs are looking.

First – it helps to confirm that people tend to read on the left side of the page the most. Most heat maps will also show this. That means you want to focus on the most impactful content there, as that is what will help the reader stay on the page the longest.

You can then proceed to design the rest of the page with the mindset that they will continue to vertically scan downwards, taking breaks to see what topics interest them. With more people getting used to this scrolling method of viewing and consuming content, it only makes it more practical and convenient to be able to design with an F-Shaped pattern in mind.

You also want to think about how you prioritise your content since there are diminishing returns as people continue to vertically move their eyes downwards. That means you want to always have the most eye-catching content at the very top. This will give readers and visitors a reason to return in future since they feel that they have aligned with your content.

Final Thoughts

While not every user follows this F-shaped pattern when they read it can serve as a great start when looking at what type of design and layout you want to build.

You'll be able to capture a wider audience designing with the F-shaped pattern in mind, and that will compound into more user visits and growth. Once mastered, don't be afraid to test and experiment with other design factors to optimise the entire user journey and flow.

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