"It's Right in Front of Their Eyes!" Psychologist Susan Weinschenk Explains Why Web Users Miss Information and How Web Developers Should Prevent Such Problems

When you search the refrigerator in vain for the salsa and someone else finds it smack in the front of the top shelf, it's a passing embarrassment. But when a visitor to your Web site doesn't see words right in front of them on the computer monitor, it has a continuing impact on your company's bottom line. According to psychologist Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., who studies the usability of Web sites, the problem is epidemic on the Web, and the cure lies as much in changing the dynamics of information flow as in devising more attention-getting methods of graphic display.

For: Weinschenk Consulting, PO Box 226, Edgar, WI 54426.
Contact: Susan Weinschenk, (800) 236-2599, susan@weinschenk.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"It's Right in Front of Their Eyes!" Psychologist Susan Weinschenk
Explains Why Web Users Miss Information and How Web Developers Should
Prevent Such Problems

Edgar, WI - When you search the refrigerator in vain for the salsa and
someone else finds it smack in the front of the top shelf, it's a
passing embarrassment. But when a visitor to your Web site doesn't see
words right in front of them on the computer monitor, it has a
continuing impact on your company's bottom line. According to
psychologist Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D., who studies the usability of Web
sites, the problem is epidemic on the Web, and the cure lies as much in
changing the dynamics of information flow as in devising more
attention-getting methods of graphic display.

"We see this a lot with error messages, where someone has filled out a
form wrong and clicks 'submit' over and over, although the screen tells
them that they have left out something. They were expecting to go on to
the next screen, so they assume the computer has made a mistake," says
Weinschenk, whose company Weinschenk Consulting Group
(www.weinschenk.com) tests Web sites and software for developers. "When
they see the same screen again, they don't notice an error message in
red somewhere on it."

People tend not to read instructions, Weinschenk has observed, such as a
rule that passwords have to be at least 6 characters long. People also
tend not to see information that is filled out as a default. In one
study, all the subjects paid California sales tax even though none lived
in California, because they didn't notice there was a default of
California tax, 7 percent.

"People miss information most when it doesn't appear where they expect
it to, when they didn't expect the information at all, and when they are
thinking about something else and are distracted," says Weinschenk.

Then what's a designer to do? Before struggling to force users to read
instructions or error messages, she advises, make sure your requirement
really is necessary. Would it be so terrible to allow passwords less
than 6 characters long? If an error message or instruction truly is
essential, make it relevant to users, in easy-to-read language, in a
large font, in the top middle of the screen, and draw their attention
there with a picture and color. "Take users to a new screen that looks
different from the previous one and they'll notice what you're trying to
tell them."

For more information on the psychology of Web design and development,
readers can visit http://www.weinschenk.com.