50 Milliseconds of Fame
50 Milliseconds of Fame
by Dr Tony Berg
According to researchers at a Canadian university it takes one twentieth of a second for a Web site to make a lasting impression on an Internet user.
Dr. Gitte Lindgaard and colleagues from Carleton University's Human-Oriented Technology Lab in Ottawa flashed websites for 50 milliseconds and asked study participants to rate them for visual appeal. The study authors later repeated the exercise for a longer viewing period with the same results.
"Visual appeal can be assessed within 50 milliseconds, suggesting that Web designers have to create a design that will make a good impression in about 50 milliseconds," said the report, published in the journal Behaviour & Information Technology.
Clearly these findings have significant competitive implications for web-based business.
Obsession with search engine positioning is of little value if the website does not capture the visitor in that crucial 50 milliseconds.
But 50 milliseconds gives pause for thought – no point in filling a page with copy – unless it can be read in the blink of an eye!
The experience of Realnet clients has shown that the impact of a well-designed page can be dramatic in terms of drawing visitors into the site and to the action page.
In fact the creation of an online solution needs to address all issues with the same amount of care and skill if the visitor is complete the task the site was created for.
Dr Tony Berg
Managing Director - Realnet Ltd
tonyberg@realnet.co.uk
Article originally published in Cambridge Network Connection magazine Issue 16, 06/05/2006.
"The Realnet team are very enthusiastic about our website and are always asking if we are happy with the way things are going or if there is anything that we would like to do to improve the site."
Steve Rosewell,
M J Warner