How to make the user read the page to the end

Original author: cxpartners
  • Transfer
stop sign illustrationWe all know the rule of the first screen that states “The user does not scroll the page, so all the information should be on top”, it is based on the fact that the user does not use scroll bars, because he is too lazy.
The guys at cxpartners (UK, Bristol) decided to verify this statement and conducted a study, I submit a translation of their report.

As web development professionals, we know that the rule of the first screen is a myth. Over the past 3 years, we have conducted about 800 user tests, and only in three cases the lower border of the window has become a real barrier to users.
In this article, we prove that the first screen rule does not work!

What is the first screen rule?

In general, this rule came from newspapers: the most important material in newspapers is always on the top half of the first page. On the Internet, it is used to describe the part of the page that the user sees first.

Why don't we worry about the first screen rule

Users told us that they do not care how much the scroll bar, and we have seen for ourselves. Users felt more than comfortable scrolling through long, very long pages in order to find what they needed. Even a cursory glance allows you to see many successful sites whose creators do not worry about the rules of the first screen.
long pages examples

Add evidence

When we run tests at cxpartners, we use the eye trecker (eye tracking system). Eye trecker allows you to see what the user sees. Based on the data received, we create temperature maps that show us where users looked.

Scroll bars

spot mapWhen we analyzed the results, we saw a clear spot in the right corner of the map. It was a scroll bar, from this one could easily conclude that scroll is used to estimate page length and hidden content.

A small amount of content provides an incentive to further explore the page.


The image below shows two options for the Bristol Airport page: on the first layout, the information is immediately divided into two columns, and on the second layout there is a main element as an illustration. As a result, on the second layout, people more often used scrolling, and got lower.
spot map on site

Eye brakes

One of the three cases where users did not explore the page further was the site of First Choice, in other cases the situation was similar.
We conducted a study of the First Choice site, which we made a year ago, the page was very long and users never wanted to see it to the end.
First choice old site
The heading “Accomodation” stretched to the whole page slowed the user's eyes. Then we placed the content on the “fold line”,
which led to the desired result.
image

Design Tips

As a result of observations, we came to the following conclusions:
  • A large amount of free space between the elements facilitates eye movement.
  • horizontal lines inhibit the reader and prevent further viewing of the page, so the elements should be slightly above the lower border
  • Avoid scrollbars inside the page, as they prevent the reader from evaluating the height of the page.


Authors notes
  • We did not consider the issue of content placement, but the issue of viewing content located below the border.
  • For the standard size of the viewing area, 1024 * 700 pixels were taken. 700 is the average height of the viewport.

Translator's Note
  1. This is a free translation of the article as close as possible to the original, maybe some of the terms were translated incorrectly by me.
  2. The authors call the end of the viewing area fold, which in English means fold, but this is an English term, an analogue of which is not known to me in Russian, so it is conditionally translated.

Also popular now: