The F-pattern

Scanning

The default reading pattern on the web is the F. Actually, it's not reading. It's scanning. People have learnt that scanning gets the answer they want quicker than reading.

And that's OK.

Why an F?

Because people start looking (in English) left to right, top to bottom, skipping bits and pieces in between.

Why? Because they want to get to the answer to their question.

Heatmaps from user eyetracking studies of three websites. The areas where users looked the most are colored red; the yellow areas indicate fewer views, followed by the least-viewed blue areas. Gray areas didn't attract any eye fixations.

Formatting includes

• headings
• bullet points
• white space to break up areas of text
• words in bold 
• images

If we want parents and young people (and professionals) to get the most from the Local Offer, we need to make sure they can find what they are looking for quickly and easily.

And that's what this course is all about.

Further reading:

F-Shaped Pattern of Reading on the Web (opens in new window) (opens in a new tab)