More fixations lead to a clearer view of the page. It’s essentially the inverse of the heatmap in Figure 1a. An alternative visualization is the focus map (what SMI calls it). The more fixations, the more the heat can obscure details on what people are looking at. The heatmap in Figure 1a is from one participant that viewed the Zappos homepage and 1b shows 13 participants.įigure 1a: Heatmap of one participant on Zappos.įigure 1b: Heatmap of 13 participants on Zappos. The “hotter” the colors (redder) the more participant fixations are in one area. Fixations are places where participants look for 100 to 500 ms (a tenth to half-a-second). A heatmap is similar to a weather map except instead of temperatures, fixations are plotted. HeatmapsĪ view of where one participant (or every participant) in a study looked is called the heatmap. Here are four visualizations (eye-candy) and how to apply them to help answer research questions. If the button is in the gaze path, participants likely aren’t perceiving it or are misinterpreting its purpose. That’s a necessary, although not sufficient, step for determining whether participants perceive and understand design elements.įor example, if users don’t click a button, eye-tracking can tell you if the button is even in the gaze path of users. Seeing eye movements and locations allows researchers to know whether elements are within a participant’s visual field. It’s most effective when the visuals are combined with other metrics or data the eye-tracking software produces. But this executive eye-candy, while compelling, is often not enough to effectively answer research questions.ĭespite its reputation of all flash and no substance, eye-tracking has the ability to answer certain research questions other methods cannot. So much so that Jared Spool has said he’d rather have an Ouija board than eye-tracking software.Įye-tracking outputs some compelling visualizations that executives love. Like many UX methods, it can be misused or misapplied. After all, the eyes don’t lie!īut eye-tracking is not a panacea. Mac Gems newsletter for a weekly e-mail summary of Gems reviews sent directly to your inbox.Eye-tracking is a method that gets a lot of attention.Ĭouple fancy (and expensive) equipment with a method that feels like peering into a customer’s thought process and you’ll get interest.Įye-tracking is perceived as something akin to a lie detector mixed with an MRI. Want to stay up-to-date with the latest Gems? Sign up for the While DwellClick may not seem more efficient than using your actual mouse buttons, it may help when using a trackpad. DwellClick contains an apps feature for times when you want to run the utility but prohibit it from running within certain applications, such as games. Though this method is less efficient than using your actual mouse buttons, the DwellClick pop-up panel method does work well.Īlthough DwellClick can useful, there are surely times when you won’t want its functionality in every program. To perform a double click, drag, or right click, you hold down the Function key (Fn on your keyboard) when DwellClick is active, and a pop-up panel appears where you select the action you want to perform. DwellClick also supports tasks such as dragging and right clicking functions, which makes the software more useful.
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