What are your readers actually seeing when they visit your website? Eyetrack studies may help you make some educated guesses.

Eyetrack studies started back in 1990. Today, odd gadgets on people’s heads track exactly what users are looking at when they visit sample websites. The studies have progressed over the years, becoming more sophisticated.

More about Eyetrack Studies

• History of Eyetrack Studies
• Eyetrack Accuracy
• Poynter’s Overview of the first Eyetrack study

The most recent batch of Eyetrack data was taken in late 2005. The full results will be debut March 28 at the 2007 ASNE conference in Washington, DC, but the USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review [ojr.org] has published a highlights article this week.

Among the findings?

Write - or reformat - for the web

• Readers get through material faster, remember it better, and have better reading experiences.

Use precise titles and simple navigational structure

• Use scannable text and eliminate useless graphics

Use only relevant images

• No stock photography.

If you’re not familiar with the Eyetrack studies, it’s worth taking the time to read through the complete Eyetrack III report from 2004. It will change the way you think about your paper online.

The full results from the 2007 study will be published at Eyetrack.poynter.org.