Ask the Eyetrackers: What About Next-Generation Site Design?

Q: This research tells us a great deal about typical news websites. But what about next-generation sites that have fundamentally different designs, content and advertertising strategies? Do you plan to do any research beyond the current models?

Alan Jacobson, president, Brass Tacks Design

A: I think it would be extremely valuable to test innovative, non-traditional designs in the future. But it is also true that what we've learned from testing typical page designs can help with evaluating non-traditional pages. Humans are creatures of habit, so seeing how they "habitually" respond to a familiar site design offers clues about how to design a more innovative one. I would envision a future study using design and presentation methods as controlled variables, so we can truly evaluate the usability and informativeness of some non-traditional site designs.

Laura Ruel, Eyetrack III co-project manager
Assistant Professor, Visual Communication and Multimedia, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Adding to Laura's comment, the Poynter Institute is interested in continuing to pursue research about how people consume news online, but we have no specific plans to do so at this point.

We remain open to partnerships in this area, but don't envision having the financial or staff resources available in the foreseeable future to do much more on our own than what's just been completed. Our most likely role might be to offer guidance and lessons-learned to other organizations interested in picking up where we've left off -- or in a collaboration that would draw the bulk of required resources from somewhere other than Poynter.

That said, we hope that Eyetrack III is not the end, and that not only does it start important conversations around the industry, but also inspires others to pick up where we left off and go deeper than we've gone.

Steve Outing, Eyetrack III co-project manager, Poynter senior editor

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