Eyetracking

Mike BirnstiehlEnglish 568

What is Eyetracking?

• Definitions– Saccade: A quick movement of the eye in order to

move focus from one area to the next.– Fixation: The time spent looking at the newly

found area.– AOI: Area of Interest– Eyetracking: A technique used to determine the

eye movement and eye-fixation patterns of a user.

What is Eyetracking?

• Saccade and fixation– Not random– What is important

• Eyetracking vs. other testing methods

Why is it Important?

• “The Added Value of Eyetracking in the Usability Evaluation of a Network Management tool”

• Task 1: The participants were required to start the system and to determine whether new delay metrics have been collected.

Why is it Important?

How do Designers Obtain this Information?

• Multiple ways to track where a user looks– Sensors attached to the user’s face– Head-mounted video systems– Restrictive video-based system– Non-contact, non-restrictive video-based system

How do Designers Obtain this Information?

= ?

How Do Designers Obtain this Information?

• “The eyetracking equipment we use for our research...Looks like a normal computer… that's exactly the point, because we want users to work normally.”

How do Designers Obtain this Information?

• Compiling information– Heat maps

How Do Designers Use this Information?

• Variety of fields– Software design– Web design– Advertising

How Do Designers Use this Information?

• Software design– Effective Interface– Easy to use

• Web design– F-shape pattern reading– Not all media types are interchangeable

How Do Designers Use this Information?

• F-shape reading pattern

How Do Designers Use this Information?

• Not all media types are interchangeable

How Do Designers Use this Information?

• Advertising– Banner blindness– Advertisement location

How Do Designers Use this Information?

How Do Designers Use this Information?

• Banner blindness and Advertisement Location– Top left, mid-left and center are the top regions

where users first fixate.– Maximize advertisement fixation by using the best

location.

Sources• Calitz, Andre P., Marco C. Pretorius, and Darelle van Greunen. “The Added Value of eyetracking in the

Usability Evaluation of a Network Management Tool.” ACM. San Diego, 2006.

• Gay, Geri, Laura Granka, and Helene Hembrooke. “Location Location Location: Viewing patterns on WWW pages.” ACM. San Diego, 2006.

• Goldberg, Joseph H., Marion Lewenstein, Neil Scott, Mark J. Stimson, and Anna M. Wichansky. “eyetracking in Web Search Tasks: Design Implications.” ACM. San Diego, 2002.

• Hennessey, Craig, Peter Lawrence, and Borna Noureddin. “A Single Camera Eye-Gaze Tracking System with Free Head Motion.” ACM. San Diego, 2006.

• Nielsen, Jakob. useit.com: Jakob Nielsen’s Website, 2008, http://www.useit.com.