6. People Scan Screens Based on Past Experience and Expectations

Slide 1

• Where do people look first on a computer screen?
• People have gotten used to the idea that there are things on computer screens that are less relevant to the task at hand, such as logos, blank space, and navigation bars, they tend to look at the center of the screen and avoid the edges (see the image on the right).
• People have a mental model of where things tend to be on computer screens, and a mental model for particular applications or Web sites that they use. They tend to look at a screen based on these mental models. For example, if they shop at Amazon a lot and use the search field, they’ll likely look right at the search field when the screen loads.
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