Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
I studied a bit about eye-tracking when I was working for newspapers. We were concerned then mostly about the readers' flow as they scanned the page, and how our layouts might call attention to key elements such as informational graphics or advertising. It seemed to me then that the only way you could draw valid conclusions from eye-tracking was if you also gathered subjective data on the user's cognitive process. What information did s/he retain a minute after reading? Five minutes later? An hour later? What did s/he recall about the images or the layout and design, and how or whether they reinforced the primary messages? How relevant did s/he perceive the material to be to his/her life before *and* after the experience? If that information is correlated with the eye-tracking data, you may have something useful. I think it's also important to ask whether such studies are likely to merit their costs (time and money), compared to other user testing and the information already available to us about how to design effectively. In some rare cases, given an effective methodology, those costs will be justified. This may be comparable to a doctor who orders extensive testing just in case -- but not for all patients. Is eye-tracking commonly used in modern interaction design, and if so, how? I'm curious to know. Jeff Seager P.S. Cheers to Jared on the Nilsson reference! _ Don't get caught with egg on your face. Play Chicktionary! http://club.live.com/chicktionary.aspx?icid=chick_wlhmtextlink1_dec *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
Someone as knowledgeable on the subject as yourself could do the world some good by refuting the list that started this conversation, or at least debating the merits of eye tracking. Eye-tracking provides unique methods to assess the impact of digital media i.e., advertisements and web pages. Even still, the range of technology and data resulting from research using eye-tracking varies beyond any wide-sweeping criticism... The issue of accuracy Mr. Spool is suggesting deals with what researchers call visual acuity. Foveal vision constitutes 1-2 degrees of the eyes' visual field, which equates to roughly the area covered by your thumb at arms length. For researchers using eye-tracking, this often means that foveal vision is composed of an area of approximately 2cm in diameter (in other words one line top and bottom, and roughly a 1/2 word on each side). Anyone questioning whether peripheral vision is tracked effectively, then dismissing an entire technology because of its relative effectiveness to do so, is omitting a fact that peripheral vision is low resolution. Which is a direct result of users eyes constantly focusing on what falls within the high resolution [scan] area of the fovea. With that said peripheral vision (is and) should be taken into account by researchers, because it does play a role in–influencing gaze patterns and fixations. Even as I write this I do not see how such an admission would invalidate what eye tracking can do, or make it equal to what psychics do. Instead it challenges usability experts to break open eye-tracking's usefulness as a tool of research (some are up for the task more than others). One debate that has lasted for quite some time is the relationship between eye movement and cognitive processing. With this said, it is important to note that I have not misleadingly suggested that where a user looks reflects what as user is thinking. This is not a claim I am willing to make, as it has been a worthwhile and largely contested area of research whereby many theories avail. Hanif O'Neil Media Technician | Analyst Skype: rawintellect Office: +1 (415) 508 4116 Mobile: +1 (267) 879 9830 http://www.linkedin.com/in/honeil *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?(*edit)
For a brilliant example of the importance of attention in vision you should have a look at Prof Richard Wiseman's colour changing card trick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE Its a great illustration that just because your rentina sees something doesn't mean you will see it at a cognitive level. BTW who spotted it? :) There's a bunch of on-going research into visual attention - google will throw up lots of links (ah, if only google helped me understand it as well). - Mike -- Mike Bennett PhD Candidate Imaging, Visualisation and Graphics Lab Systems Research Group, University College Dublin, Ireland - email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - blog: http://www.user-designer.com - web: http://www.stressbunny.com/mike *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?(*edit)
On Nov 26, 2007, at 8:09 AM, Ron Perkins wrote: Thanks for the observations on eye tracking, I've never used one but suspected that they were a lot of work and offered wonderfully precise answers to the wrong questions. Hey, wasn't that line from a Pink Floyd tune? Nope. Nilsson's The Point. (Excellent story, if you've never heard it.) Jared Jared M. Spool User Interface Engineering 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +1 978 327 5561 http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
So, all you can tell is where the center of the retina pointed. And, from a design standpoint, this tells you practically nothing. Cheers to that, Jared. One can only hope that a UIE blog post is in order. Someone as knowledgeable on the subject as yourself could do the world some good by refuting the list that started this conversation, or at least debating the merits of eye tracking. You don't mind being egged on, do ya? ;) -r- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?(*edit)
On Nov 25, 2007, at 9:47 PM, hanif o'neil wrote: I would suggest that it has been through eye-tracking research that this instance has been highlighted, e.g. Enquiro's discovery of Google Search's Golden Triangle, where users ignored ads along the right scroll bar of the screen (in order to ignore that area of the page users had to see it first). Though, more important were the areas of the page that users didn't ignore, supported not only by heat-mapped impressions, but gaze patterns and click-throughs. And observation and discussion with the user. Which is a lot cheaper. If there is another technology that can do this please share? Hah! *This* technology can't even do this. There are three or four possible interpretations to eye tracking data that can take any analysis into completely different directions. Every eye tracker should have a sticker saying Just add meaning. As the Rock Man said, You see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear. (I'll send a UI12 Conference CD to the first person who can correctly identify *that* reference. Google is cheating. :) ) It's all based on interpretation. The Enquiro Discovery wasn't a discovery at all -- it was something many of us already had known through our work without the use of eye tracking. At best, eye tracking just confirms what we already know. Look, you can use whatever tools you want. Hell, use a Magic 8-Ball [1] for all I care. (Can you say, Outlook not so good?) If you get mileage from it, go for it. If it improves your design, all the best to ya. I'm still avoiding eye tracking for diagnosing problems with designs because I find it to be practically useless. And I'm recommending our clients do the same. Jared p.s. I'm seriously considering putting a 23 Web Site Design Tips Learned from the Magic 8-Ball post together. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_8-Ball Jared M. Spool User Interface Engineering 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +1 978 327 5561 http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
Eye tracking is not the end-all solution, then again (from what I've seen) it hasn't been promoted as such. It is an excellent tool to help make designers more accountable to the functionality of their designs. It also provides research teams further insights beyond traditional think out loud methods. It provides data on how users instinctively look at and interact with a web page, or email campaign. This data does not offer feedback on whether a design is good or not, instead it provides an understanding of how well a design functioned: Did users see specific content or links? And how long did it take them to see them in the interface? Or from an analysis perspective: Are users' click patterns consistent to their gaze pattern? What section of the page is experiencing a considerable drop-off rate? For research teams this data will always be qualitative, and its meaning defined by the goal(s) of their design implements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
For consultancies selling IxD expertise it gives a 'oooh shiny' moment for clients (and often for some practioners). Even if the commissioning client staff member understands IxD it gives a recognisable 'scientific' sheen to a report and therefore makes it easier to pry open the budget. Jakob Nielsen is about to release a book on eye-tracking. One can only hope that he addresses the appropriate contexts for use and how useful it really is as a testing tool. But the simple fact that Nielsen is doing this means that at least he thinks there's a whole lot more to it than oooh shiny. -r- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
It is indeed fascinating to read the comments to the original article - but I don't think you need to concern yourself with them too much: Thanks for the tips and advice...I hardly ever take into consideration the audience%u2019s tendencies. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
On Nov 21, 2007, at 7:04 PM, Robert Hoekman, Jr. wrote: -Eye tracking can be useful for diagnosing problems, not so much for identifying them. That's an interesting point. It does seems like eye-tracking would be infinitely more valuable when used in conjunction with other things - like a more traditional test. Just like astrology. Jared *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
But wouldn't the eye tracking experiment have taken a lot more time and effort than consulting the graphic designer? Jack Sent from my iPhone On Nov 22, 2007, at 6:08 AM, Adrian Howard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yeah. I remember one particular project that, in hindsight, I wish I had eye tracking data on. Turned out that a underline on a heading was drawing the user towards the wrong bit of the page. Once this was pointed out by the (smarter than me) graphic designer the fix was trivial. Eye tracking would have shown it up straight away. It's just a tool. *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
The first thing that struck me after reading this article was someone has rehashed a bunch of design guidelines from Nielsen and other course materials on homepage usability. Slap a title of Eyetracking on it and a slow day for a writer just churned out an article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
On 22 Nov 2007, at 19:01, Jack Moffett wrote: But wouldn't the eye tracking experiment have taken a lot more time and effort than consulting the graphic designer? If I already have my eye tracking equipment (I wish!) there isn't a lot of extra cost in actually using it - and I don't always have somebody cleverer than me to hand :-) Having experts is better obviously. Hell, I'd have spotted it myself on a good day. However, we all have bad days and having another tool in the box is always useful. That list of discoveries on Seth's blog was laughable, but I'm just as miffed by folk who think all eye tracking is completely useless. Often misapplied and over- generalised, but that's pretty much true of all research reporting these days sigh. The other interesting thing for me is that - as far as I can see - there's nothing _seriously_ technical stopping eye-tracking gear being considerably cheaper than it is at the moment. An IR source, a decent camera or two, and some darn clever math. I expect more folk doing research like http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/4650 on getting eye tracking working with consumer level hardware. Hell I can get a crappy head mounted tracker for about USD 10k. With the exchange rate as it is at the moment that's less than the price of a couple of high-end Mac Books in the UK! What happens when you can get decent eye tracking equipment for a couple of grand? If I had a bunch of eye tracking equipment I'm damn sure I could find some useful ways to use it. Cheers, Adrian *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
On 21/11/2007, Robert Hoekman, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 23 rules actionable lessons from eye-tracking studies: http://tinyurl.com/yrhydu I'm curious whether or not others on the list take this stuff seriously. Simple answer is no, it's misleading. Text doesn't ATTRACT more attention, it REQUIRES more attention. So whilst an image can be glanced and understood quickly whilst you have to read text. As with Jakob Nielsen's terrible 'Talking Heads are boring' article what is happening is bad conclusion is being wrung from a fairly meaningless set of data. In the talk head video people where listening first, for example. It's only real use is to test hypothesis, probably best in an academic setting - not as a discovery tool. But then I even see lab based usability testing as second fiddle to infield ethnographic testing - labs are great for impressing clients but it's all smoke and mirrors - well half silvered mirrors. Eye tracking has no use on a real project, something I've learnt by talking to those who have had experience of it first hand. I've even been told that 'heat maps' are very little use as the time element is missing, yet that's what clients like. In short - it's snake oil. -- Stewart Dean *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
An eye-tracking is the best way to micro analyze the pattern of [you name anything]. At the end, the significance (or ROI) from micro analyzing the scanning pattern of how people search for certain information is insiginificant as the time involves in analyzing, creating report, set up a meeting to report out, etc is completely irrelevent to the needs of users. This is where 80/20 rule must be applied. Is an eye-tracking helping us to solve 20% of problems that contribute the success of 80%? I don't think so. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
I actually think we're missing the point of why eye tracking is used to frequently. For consultancies selling IxD expertise it gives a 'oooh shiny' moment for clients (and often for some practioners). Even if the commissioning client staff member understands IxD it gives a recognisable 'scientific' sheen to a report and therefore makes it easier to pry open the budget. Or am I just being too cynical? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kevin Lee Sent: 22 November 2007 17:25 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning? An eye-tracking is the best way to micro analyze the pattern of [you name anything]. At the end, the significance (or ROI) from micro analyzing the scanning pattern of how people search for certain information is insiginificant as the time involves in analyzing, creating report, set up a meeting to report out, etc is completely irrelevent to the needs of users. This is where 80/20 rule must be applied. Is an eye-tracking helping us to solve 20% of problems that contribute the success of 80%? I don't think so. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
23 rules actionable lessons from eye-tracking studies: http://tinyurl.com/yrhydu I'm curious whether or not others on the list take this stuff seriously. I haven't decided yet if I think eye-tracking is a useful tool, and although I definitely have some opinions on the subject, I'd like some other perspectives to form a better picture. Several of these actionable lessons bother me. For example, One-column formats perform better in eye-fixation than multi-column formats. * * This seems painfully obvious, and also completely useless. Of course a single-column is going to perform better - you only have to look at a single column rather than two! But how does this help us? I'm certainly not going to start using single-column layouts all the time just because it's faster. When it comes down to it, a few seconds difference in the time it takes to digest a page isn't going to make or break a user's experience. What matters is whether the content is worth it. What matters is whether the value in exploring the page outweighs the difficulty in doing so. Another: Ads placed next to the best content are seen more often. Again, painfully obvious. But does this mean that people actually see the ads, or that they happen to fixate on them for more than a millisecond? Does it mean they read them? Click them more often? There are so many factors to consider in web design and usability, it's hard to imagine that eye-tracking results can yield information that is truly helpful. -r- *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
Good points. But this follows the old saw that to the guy with a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail. All that the eye-tracking tells you is that the user's eyes spend a lot of time looking at specific parts of the screen/page. No more, no less. Eye tracking provides useful inputs once one has already developed a couple of alternative design prototypes. It can help one make design choices some way along the design proces, but eye-tracking alone cannot drive design. Indeed, I don't know of any one technique which by itself can or should drive design. Despite having a strong techie background myself, I let my intuitions guide me in coming up with rough cuts which then can be measured against various guidelines, paradigms or methods. I believe that guidelines are useful aids/heuristics for those who already have an eye and a feel for design, and who therefore know when to respect or reject received wisdom; but no amount of guidelines can turn a random person into a designer. -murli nagasundaram www.murli.com *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
From Nancy Broden: One question I do have for the eye-tracking supporters out there: if the results culled from all the eye-tracking studies where implemented wouldn't all of our websites look the same or at least very, very similar? _ I do not consider myself an eye-tracking supporter anymore then I consider myself a supporter of Allen wrenches (it is just a tool). Also, as a consultant I have never encountered a situation in which I felt eye tracking was the correct tool for the job. If I was back in academia, I could imagine lots of times I would want to use it. Those caveats out of the way, lots of standards and best practices have evolved on where to place navigations and body content. But in no way do all sites look the same. These studies mean something in aggregate. You take the results from all of the studies and you use your training and judgment to apply it. If an eye tracking study just reports the results as a list of commandments with none of the data or methodology behind it... then we really can not use the results in our day-to-day job. _ From Nancy Broden: Eye-tracking feels like a desperate attempt to scientifically prove the value of Design (with a big D) . I don't have enough time to wade into that one... ___ I can see coming to that conclusion if we are just using it to study a small set of marketing sites or some e-commerce sites. But I recently read a great article (sorry can not find the link, but I hope someone on this list has it) where an eye tracking study was used to aid in the design of software for radiologists. What they found was that radiologists had higher dwell times on tumors that they missed. They where able to determine some of the misses the radiologists may have caught on their own if they where better able to go back to past images. Given that the fast bulk of what they look at are true negatives, their muscle memory kicks in and they mark an image as negative before they fully processed it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
just a little sidenote: it is fascinating to read the comments that people have left to the originally quoted article - lots and lots of incredibly positive and thankful comments with people talking of going back and redesigning their sites as a result of this information. it says a lot for the great demand out there for someone to make these grand pronouncements about what works and what doesn't (with or without context). People do love their rules don't they. I always find it a constant balancing act to try to give people this sense of perceived value through pronouncements and actually getting them to understand the context in which the design decisions are being made. Leisa Reichelt Disambiguity.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] +44 778 071 2129 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
I think part of the problem with the article is that it frames eye tracking as a tool for drawing sweeping conclusions, when it seems far more appropriate for assessing a specific design and improving performance in a manner similar to split testing (e.g. is this heading getting ignored? What about if it were a little smaller?). Eye tracking isn't relevant to branding issues or suggest solutions, but it can give detailed feedback on a design's ergonomics and help identify problems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Does eye-tracking carry any real meaning?
Ah yes, eye tracking - it's like the intelligent design debate of our field. A few points to add: -The reaction of isn't that obvious to some of the points reminds me of reactions to findings from usability testing years ago. Yes it may be apparently obvious, but that doesn't mean it's not worth validating (see Freakanomics, for example). -Eye tracking can be useful for diagnosing problems, not so much for identifying them. For example, a viewer may miss a critical item on the screen - eye tracking can reveal whether the element was visually detected or overlooked and direct changes accordingly. -There are some specific applications where eye tracking is particularly useful. The radiology example was one. Another is when we used eye tracking to determine whether a novel interface feature (spatially expanding visual cue in the periphery) was affecting visual scanning patterns. Incidentally, in some cases attention precedes eye movements, and vice-versa: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/psocpubs/prp/2004/0066/0003/art4 Happy Thanksgiving. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss?post=22825 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
