I have talked off and on at this post concerning the proper way to design web sites for your visitors and potential customers.
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Here are a few reasons why consumers act as they do when they surf the web.
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Surfing the web makes people’s eyes sore. Why is it that it does that?
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Because even at a good resolution it’s only around 100 dots per inch (dpi) – which is only about a third of what it is on newsprint.
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Another reason that people don’t like to look at screens is the flicker effect involved. The great majority has to run a CRT display a high refresh – 75 HZ and higher – for the results to be any good at all. While LCDs are better, still, as we all know, reading off of a computer screen is slower and much more stressful on the eyes. There is also a high number of people that are sensitive to the flicker of a computer screen.
Of course the fact that most experts recommend that we take breaks approximately every 20 minutes from the screen because of how it can make our eyes weak, painful and dry.
How Visitors Respond
Because we are innovative and creative, we learn to do things that minimize the discomfort or restrictions that things we interact with challenge us to respond to.
The overall tactic for all people is to move quickly from task to task in order to get things done as quickly as possible.
The result of this are these:
Surfers are impatient
Make quick decisions
Scan headlines instead of reading content
Of course the last one about scanning headlines fits in if the headlines don’t point to content that is desired. If it does, then the surfer will stop and read what it has to say or print it.
So if you have or going to create your own website or are going to have someone design it for you, keep in mind that your design must take into consideration the things I’ve mentioned here.
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