Eyetracking Web Usability is based on one of the largest studies of eyetracking usability in existence. Best-selling author Jakob Nielsen and coauthor Kara Pernice used rigorous usability methodology and eyetracking technology to analyze 1.5 million instances where users look at Web sites to understand how the human eyes interact with design. Their findings will help designers, software developers, writers, editors, product managers, and advertisers understand what people see or don’t see, when they look, and why.

With their comprehensive three-year study, the authors confirmed many known Web design conventions and the book provides additional insights on those standards. They also discovered important new user behaviors that are revealed here for the first time. Using compelling eye gaze plots and heat maps, Nielsen and Pernice guide the reader through hundreds of examples of eye movements, demonstrating why some designs work and others don’t. They also provide valuable advice for page layout, navigation menus, site elements, image selection, and advertising. This book is essential reading for anyone who is serious about doing business on the Web.

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Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 7 Ratings

Packed with examples of eye movements and design potentials - 2010-02-12
Reviewer Rating:
Eyetracking Web Usability is based on one of the largest studies of eyetracking usability and employs usability methodology and eye-tracking technology to analyze 1.45 million user fixations on web sites. Designers and software developers - and libraries catering to them - will find this packed with examples of eye movements and design potentials.

Another great book from the guru - 2010-08-04
Reviewer Rating:
There are many designers out there that hate Jakob Nielsen with a passion. They don't like the fact that he "gets in the way" of their creativity. You know what? He only says what he says because he and his staff have observed way more web users using websites than probably anyone else in existence.

Those that hate the guy need to grow up and read this book, and his others, to ensure they aren't one of the many designers that continues to propagate the web with designs that frustrate users.

What I like about this book is that most other usability books have what some people would call "subjectivity". However, this one talks about where users' eyes fixated and traveled on a page. There isn't much subjective about that. For example, when someone doesn't even take a peak at one of those huge images a designer put on a page to make it look cool, you can pretty much say that image is useless.

Some may think the material repeats suggestions from his past books or other books, but I think it is nice to now see even more backing/support for those suggestions.

Very Detailed and Insightful Study - 2010-04-24
Reviewer Rating:
Review: by Gregory West
prospector16@gmail.com
Member of the Computer Operators of Marysville & Port Huron (COMP)
[...]

Eyetracking
Web Usability

by Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice
Published by New Riders[...]
(an mprint of Peachpit)
ISBN-13: 978-0321-49836-6
Pages: 437
USA: $[...]

Have you ever wondered why certain parts of a website catch your eye and you ignore or completely miss others? Whether you are designing a corporate website, simply working with a private site, or setting up a blog for the first time, this book will take you into the world of design and what works.

Authors: Neilson and Pernice take us on a detailed journey demonstrating what works and grabs your attention longer than a split second. Eyetracking technology allows you to see what people see on mainstream websites.

This book's main focus is "to study look patterns and how they relate to Web usage". It is "not a general book about Web usability", although it gives an excellent insight into why people go to certain areas on a page. Throughout the eight chapters, we learn how "Eyetracking" technology works. Also, you will find a summary covering human behavioral patterns, resulting from these extensive studies.

The second chapter is a little dry as it explains how this technology works, data collected, fake tests, study participants and cost evaluations. Other chapters get into the heart of page layout, navigation design elements and images. Chapter seven covers advertisements which is a major aspect of the Internet. Everything, from when people look at ads to the impact of ad placement, is detailed in a quite interesting fashion. Here is where you find out what works and what fails.

The authors point out the need for corporate executives to stand aside and let the professional graphic designers do their job. They show how upper-level management employees who know nothing about design and graphics can destroy the design due to ignorance of "web usability" and drive customers away.
Not contained in the book keeping "this book at a manageable size" are two "separate reports" made available online:

Eyetracking Methodology: How to Conduct and Evaluate Usability Studies Using Eyetracking: [...] and How People Read on the Web: [...]

If you are, in any way, part of a team that works on websites, or if you have your own personal blog and want your sites to work, this book is something that you will keep going back to as a reference guide. There is an excellent Table of Contents in the front and a well laid out Glossary in the back to make sure you find exactly the topic to research and learn.

Substantive - 2010-03-02
Reviewer Rating:
It's nice to read a marketing book that actually has substance. The majority of them are 99% fluff. The research in this book is ground-breaking and I have already implemented it to improve several websites.

"Eyetracking Web Usability" Rocks - 2010-01-25
Reviewer Rating:
I'm loving Nielsen's New Book, "Eyetracking Web Usability," coauthored with Kara Pernice and published just a few weeks ago. It is precisely the great insight I have come to expect from Nielsen over the years.

I have not been in the usability lab for months (and my husband no longer qualifies as the "average user" because I've made him my guinea pig too many times). "Eye Tracking Web Usability" really satisfies my need to observe user behavior.

Nielsen and Pernice eloquently describe user behavior with four-hundred-thirty-two pages of eyetracking evidence. Maybe I'm just a sucker for heat maps, but I say - Read it!

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