Posted on 07/10/2011 12:26:15 PM PDT by TenthAmendmentChampion
It’s not surprising that the first paragraph on a web page is the one part that gets read the most. And that’s not just because the Internet has done away with whatever little attention span we have left. There’s more to it than the fact that we’ve gotten used to 140 bite-sized nuggets of information.
According to a study by Jakob Nielsen, when we read a page, our eye automatically traces the text in an F-shape. The first paragraph is the one read in its entirety, as we trace the first long line of the ‘F.’ The next paragraph doesn’t fare as well, getting only half that much attention as we track about mid-way through the paragraph, tracing the second short line of the ‘F.’ The last step is simply to skim down the rest of the article, vertically.
If Nielsen’s study is anything to go by, I’ve pretty much maxed out any attention I’m going to get from you. It doesn’t really matter what I write from this point on, unless you’re absolutely fascinated by what I’m saying.
According to Nielsen, the F stands for Fast, and anything important you have to say, get it said in the first two paragraphs, since the rest of the post will be skimmed at best.
ALL my web page viewing is in the shape of an X.
Hubba hubba.
I just look at the pictures
I’d argue you have to have a short-attention span on the Internet nowadays. There is so much data out there, you need to get through the extraneous stuff quickly to find what you really want.
I used to read several books a month and could read quite fast and with good comprehension
I find it increasingly difficult to finish a book now
Well, I never read anything at all. I just post.
As a technical writer and former support technician, I can only refer to an old acrynym: RTFM!!!
Read The @#$%^&* Manual!
LOL!!
I wonder how much of this is generated by a bunch of useless advertising Internet pages. Arrive at page; scan; nope, nothing useful here; back to Google; move on.
Unless the book is very bad I force myself to read the whole book until I pick up another one. Gerald’s Game comes to mind.
Hate to rain on this parade....
In the print media, where I shamefully spent the first 20 years of my adult life, we used to call our form of writing “inverted pyramid style.” In that style, you summarize the entire story in the first sentence, retell the most important bits in the next few sentences, and the tell the story again using details.
It looks like this study is just confirming the way people have written the news for the past 150 years.
So much for style points. I can also tell you from personal experience that everything you’ve heard about the media is understated, but that’s another story.
I do not believe even
one
word
of that silly
a
r
t
i
c
l
e
Most ads are on the right side of the web page, boy are those advertisers getting screwed.
-PJ
No I still read at least three books a week. Comprehed just fine.
So, do you get lost on the way home too? (jk)
No I still read at least three books a week. Comprehend just fine.
So, do you get lost on the way home too? (jk)
A note: this should all be visible on the first screen, every time without having to scroll to see the second bar of the F. It is just fine to put more information below the second bar, but the objective is to keep the readers attention so they don't navigate away. Clutter and advertising on the first page is a distraction that causes users to navigate away prematurely.
The goal is not just page views in quantity, but page views in quantity with time. The average person spends five seconds scanning a web page when making the stay/go decision. Show people a nice clean house and they will be more likely to stay. Keep a pig sty and watch them run for the doors.
I agree — my printed page reading speed and comprehension have been reduced since I started reading a lot on a computer screen, about ten years ago. :(
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