Eyetracking Web Usability and the Don’t Make Me Think Methodology

As Steve Krug wrote in “Don’t Make Me Think,” the purpose of web usability is to not make the user think when they land on your web site. So how does this philosophy fit into eye tracking web usability? If the user is visually scanning for information, they’re probably thinking. This is a sign the site’s usability is not intuitive or obvious and therefore needs to be improved. Users need to be able to see the home page and immediately say “aha, there it is!”

Cluttered web pages force users to find a needle in a haystack. When the user lands on such a page they have to spend time contemplating whether to scour the site through the categories or scan through every line of text on the cluttered page for relevant information. If they have to make a decision on how best to find what they’re looking for, they’re already thinking too much, and the site design needs to be reevaluated.

In today’s competitive business world branding is everything. Branding has become a main part of web design as well. Unfortunately, users can get confused with niche phrases used in navigation and categories that are less commonly used in day to day conversations. In this scenario, users again become thinkers. When they come across these lesser used phrases they have to make a decision whether to click that link or continue finding something more relevant and targeted on the current page. The best way is to stick with commonly used terms and phrases on your site. One option is to use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Type in your keywords you plan on using for your categories. The web tool will spit out related keywords and you can sort it by the most searched phrases, letting you know the most commonly used terms to use for your site navigation.

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