Understanding the F-Layout in Web Design | Webdesigntuts

The F-Layout relies upon various eyetracking studies for it’s foundational concept. These scientific studies show that web surfers read the screen in an “F” pattern – seeing the top, upper left corner and left sides of the screen most… only occasionally taking glances towards the right side of the screen. These eyetracking studies argue in favor of placing the most important elements of your site (branding, navigation, call to action) on the left side of the design.

Let’s take a peek at a heatmap using Webdesigntuts+ as the example:

This heatmap shows the abstract F shape that user’s general gravitate towards. Hot spots (red/orange/yellow) represent where user’s attention lingers the longest.