Should websites contain more text or be graphic heavy? Eye-tracking studies have shown that while people are attracted to graphics, they are first drawn to text. Searching the internet for information could be one of the many reasons our eyes quickly begin key word scanning.
Understanding how people read websites can help in the overall design layout. The F-pattern, also known as the golden triangle eye movement pattern, explains that we read beginning at the top left of a page. Placing your most important content, text or graphic, here will assure that it gets seen first. People also seem accustom to avoiding banners and advertisements outside of the page’s content. If you have content you want seen, use design elements that least resemble those advertisements and consider their placement within the body of your page.
Quality content is also vital if you want visitor to stay on your site. If you cannot provide the information they are searching for, they will quickly leave to find another source. Graphics should always be relevant to the content and used sparingly as supplement to textual information.
Other benefits of a text heavy web design are improved loading speed and search engine traffic. Large or numerous graphics take longer to load which may cause visitor’s to leave before it’s done in the interest of time. Search engines primarily use text to categorize and the more text there is the more opportunity for key words to pop up.
For more on the debate, visit http://www.improvetheweb.com/use-text-instead-graphics-your-website.
