Content placement, does it influence usability?
Where designers should place different elements of websites, such as:
The key notes below can help you when designing your website and helps you plan where content will be placed :
Advertising: - Users learn quickly where adverts are placed on websites and therefore learn to ignore these parts of the websites when browsing. For example, once people have viewed the adverts on the home page on the right hand side, in subsequent pages of the site, users rarely or never look at the right hand side again. People learn where the adverts are placed. The same applies to banners on the top of websites, once users have viewed the banner on the main page; the following banners are ignored in other pages of the site. This can be an issue for websites where the site has template designs. - One solution is to alter the position of the adverts in different sections of the website. - Eye Tracking Study by the Poynter Institute states that ads perform better in the left hand column over the right. The right column is treated by users as an "after-thought" area and should be designed with that in mind, but its also important to realise that just because ads received the most eye fixation by placing them in the left hand column, it doesnt mean that users were happy to have them there. Location should depend on the website.
Eye movement: - People tend to mainly look at the middle of the page, followed by looking towards the main logo, followed by the left hand side menu, before scanning the areas to the right of the page. So ensure the right content is in the right place is vital to capturing the users attention.
Navigation: - Navigation placed at the top of a homepage performed best. This is probably due to the majority of applications which users use which have standard menus (file, edit, view) starting from the top left corner. Ensure the website design and navigation is kept consistent through out the website.
Audio: - In What Consumers Hate about Online Ads Cia Romano explains that auto launch of audio in adverts and websites is one of the greatest irritants. A better choice is to let users know which audio is available and then allow them to control when they can play it and how often.
For more information visit : Usability news article for more information.