What should the text be like on adaptive websites?
Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2025 4:47 am
The text placed on adaptive pages should be easy to read, and for this there should be an appropriate font. But you can clearly determine what will be convenient in this particular case, and what is not so much, only after you have a clear idea of how visitors read text on Internet resources.
When performing adaptive layout of a list of timeshare owners website, it is necessary to take into account that, as a rule, three methods are used to read materials posted on the Internet.
The Nielsen Norman Group conducted an independent study back in 2006 and published “heat maps” showing the behavior of web page visitors. These images show the most popular areas (red), areas that attract less attention (yellow), and places that are not visible (purple).
Adaptive website layout_heat map
In the image, you can see that the red and yellow areas form variations of the letter F, indicating that web visitors are simply scanning the information, determining its informational value - this is all they are interested in when they first encounter the content.
Moreover, the user looks through the material to understand whether the material solves the task at hand. Often, such a cursory look is limited to looking at a few words/symbols located on a line.
Please note the image below - this is a map of the user's eye movement as they look at Google search results. Note the color scheme, it clearly demonstrates that the visitor only carefully read the first positions, and then scans the information (the left part is completely "untouched by the eye"):
Adaptive website layout_Google heat map
Of course, users may be interested in the information and read the text carefully - this circumstance must be taken into account when adaptive layout of the site is carried out. A person "lingers" on the material, reads it thoughtfully and slowly, if it is interesting and useful to him.
There are three main ways to read materials posted on web pages, but it is worth taking into account that there are many more.
Adaptive layout of the site should be carried out taking into account the factor of the so-called "separate reading". The essence of which is as follows: the visitor does not read everything that is written on the page, he, using the "central" vision, stops at a specific word, and with the help of "peripheral" vision gets acquainted with additional information.
Adaptive website layout_not reading all the words
Please note: the visitor does not “see” all the words.
Adaptive website layout_peripheral vision
When reading, the visitor uses “peripheral” vision.
Researchers have shown that visitors do not focus their gaze on a specific word, but scan the information in a circular fashion (the circles that the eyes make while reading are called saccades). This is usually the case for visitors who want to familiarize themselves with the content in order to determine how useful it is for them.
Adaptive website layout_a few words
When reading a text, the user “captures” several words at once.
Also, when reading the text on one line, visitors glance at the next one. Thus, the gaze does not just move horizontally, but also “jumps” vertically. This vertical-horizontal movement leads to the formation of figures resembling the letter F.
Adaptive website layout should be carried out taking into account the rules concerning the text of horizontally located lines. A long line "tires" the reader, forcing him to constantly turn his head to its end, then to the beginning. Very short lines are easily divided into parts of phrases or words perceived as a single text.
If the reader gets tired before finding the information he is interested in, his gaze will simply slide along the left edge of the page, scanning the content. If fatigue sets in during concentrated reading of interesting information, repeated viewing of the same line is possible, the so-called "duplication".
The ideal line is considered to be one with 65 characters. On the Internet, lines with a size of 45-75 characters "work". Laura Franz, based on her practical experience as the director of engineering at Codesi, says that 85 characters are acceptable (everything is taken into account: letters, punctuation marks and spaces).
When performing adaptive layout of a list of timeshare owners website, it is necessary to take into account that, as a rule, three methods are used to read materials posted on the Internet.
The Nielsen Norman Group conducted an independent study back in 2006 and published “heat maps” showing the behavior of web page visitors. These images show the most popular areas (red), areas that attract less attention (yellow), and places that are not visible (purple).
Adaptive website layout_heat map
In the image, you can see that the red and yellow areas form variations of the letter F, indicating that web visitors are simply scanning the information, determining its informational value - this is all they are interested in when they first encounter the content.
Moreover, the user looks through the material to understand whether the material solves the task at hand. Often, such a cursory look is limited to looking at a few words/symbols located on a line.
Please note the image below - this is a map of the user's eye movement as they look at Google search results. Note the color scheme, it clearly demonstrates that the visitor only carefully read the first positions, and then scans the information (the left part is completely "untouched by the eye"):
Adaptive website layout_Google heat map
Of course, users may be interested in the information and read the text carefully - this circumstance must be taken into account when adaptive layout of the site is carried out. A person "lingers" on the material, reads it thoughtfully and slowly, if it is interesting and useful to him.
There are three main ways to read materials posted on web pages, but it is worth taking into account that there are many more.
Adaptive layout of the site should be carried out taking into account the factor of the so-called "separate reading". The essence of which is as follows: the visitor does not read everything that is written on the page, he, using the "central" vision, stops at a specific word, and with the help of "peripheral" vision gets acquainted with additional information.
Adaptive website layout_not reading all the words
Please note: the visitor does not “see” all the words.
Adaptive website layout_peripheral vision
When reading, the visitor uses “peripheral” vision.
Researchers have shown that visitors do not focus their gaze on a specific word, but scan the information in a circular fashion (the circles that the eyes make while reading are called saccades). This is usually the case for visitors who want to familiarize themselves with the content in order to determine how useful it is for them.
Adaptive website layout_a few words
When reading a text, the user “captures” several words at once.
Also, when reading the text on one line, visitors glance at the next one. Thus, the gaze does not just move horizontally, but also “jumps” vertically. This vertical-horizontal movement leads to the formation of figures resembling the letter F.
Adaptive website layout should be carried out taking into account the rules concerning the text of horizontally located lines. A long line "tires" the reader, forcing him to constantly turn his head to its end, then to the beginning. Very short lines are easily divided into parts of phrases or words perceived as a single text.
If the reader gets tired before finding the information he is interested in, his gaze will simply slide along the left edge of the page, scanning the content. If fatigue sets in during concentrated reading of interesting information, repeated viewing of the same line is possible, the so-called "duplication".
The ideal line is considered to be one with 65 characters. On the Internet, lines with a size of 45-75 characters "work". Laura Franz, based on her practical experience as the director of engineering at Codesi, says that 85 characters are acceptable (everything is taken into account: letters, punctuation marks and spaces).