The Next Generation Melvyl Catalog provides a great peek at the long awaited book on eyetracking research by usability gurus, Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice. By clicking on the ‘Preview this Item’ button & the Google Preview link, the first two chapters are available including images. The feature is powered by Google preview. The ‘Preview this Item’ button is available after clicking through to the full description of the book: http://ucdavis.worldcat.org/oclc/495471898/viewport
The book is currently in process at UC Santa Cruz and being ordered for UC Davis.
So what is Eyetracking?
In Pernice and Nielsen’s words at the opening of chapter one, “Eyetracking is simply following the trail of where a person is looking. With current technology, it is fairly easy to observe the path where users look on a computer screen.” The images below are two eyetracking “heatmaps” which use colors to represent the data showing how much users looked at different parts of the pages.
Nielsen, J. (2009), Eyetracking heatmap [screen captures]. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from Useit.com, Eyetracking http://www.useit.com/eyetracking
Using eyetracking in your own research: Free Report on how to run eyetracking studies
Pernice, K., & Nielsen, J. (2009). How to Conduct and Evaluate Usability Studies Using Eyetracking. Fremont, CA: Nielsen Norman Group. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www.useit.com/eyetracking.
Access the report via the web site: http://www.useit.com/eyetracking/methodology
or download the free pdf (159 pages, 16MB) http://www.useit.com/eyetracking/methodology/eyetracking-methodology.pdf
Note on the Library Catalogs: Next Generation Melvyl is one of two catalogs available from the Library’s web site. It includes the records of all ten UC campuses as well as libraries from around the world. The Harvest UC Davis Catalog is our local catalog and a great choice for searching our rich and unique collections.
Seeking Permission to use the Copyrighted Images: A quick email to Jakob Nielsen’s office manager, with a cc to Mr. Nielson, resulted in a quick response from Jakob Nielsen stating: “You have permission to use the images.”. Thank you. It’s always worth asking.
Tags: eyetracking, heatmaps, Jakob Nielsen, Kara Pernice, web usability