Browsing Habits
Part of user-experience design is considering how elements on a web page compete for attention. We spend so much time prioritizing the prominence of items within a page while making little consideration for what else people are doing. What if users rarely devote 100% of their attention to a web page? To learn more, I surveyed 83 of my closest friends on their browsing habits:
On Average, how many browser windows do you have open at once?
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four to Five
- Five +
On Average, how many browser tabs do you have open at once?
- One to Two
- Three to Four
- Five to Six
- Seven +
Typically, where do you spend the majority of your time while browsing?
- Living Room
- Office
- Bedroom / Dorm
- Kitchen
What types of applications do you have open while browsing
- Music / Audio
- Social Networking
- Word Processing
- Online Chat
- Creative Applications
- Data Processing
While browsing, what are you doing outside the computer?
- Watching TV
- Working
- Radio / Music
- Mobile
- Eating / Drinking
- Household Work
- Hobby
When visiting a website, what % of your full attention do you give?
- 100%
- 75%
- 50%
- 25%
How long does it take to decide whether or not to click further into a site?
- 1-2 seconds
- 5-20 seconds
- 20 seconds – 1 min
- 1 minute +
What is your age? Remember, this survey is anonymous.
- Younger than 20
- 20-29
- 30-39
- 40-49
- 50-59
- 60-69
- 70+
What does this mean?
To me, this just confirms what we’ve always known. People don’t browse in a vacuum. We’re mid-conversation, getting off the bus with battery life & email notifications blinking at us web browsers. My Paravel cohort recently tweeted:
The less your design competes with itself, the less you compete with everything else
This high level of competition for attention is something web designers must always have in mind. Keep things simple. Present users with one idea at a time and while you’re at it, go ahead and make that button 20px larger.