Next, please

An interesting eye track side study by Nora Paul and Laura Ruel looks at what navigation methods users chose when viewing a photo slide show using a Washington Post slide show that used several navigation types.

Here's which ones people chose:

• Next 19 (56%)
• Numbers 8 (23%)
• Arrow 5 (15%)
• Autoplay 2 ( 6%)
• Thumbnail 0

The results were pretty much the same for the number of slides in the package the views looked at, but weren't the same for the amount of time spent on the slide based on the navigation method.

They noted this:

But perhaps the most interesting observation was the very low level usage of the non-linear approach (and when it was used, how few slides were observed.) Is the linear orientation to looking through material so hard-wired into our media usage that it is, and will continue to be, the preferred way to take in media?

Tags: slide shows | online design | eye track studies