A successful website is one that not only contains useful information but
also displays the information in an easily recognizable way. Usability
analysis is imperative for the effective development of websites. The
analysis of any user's preferences is paramount to optimizing the
usability of any website. Examining a user's preferences and the
influences that may guide such preferences is one way to achieve this.
While every user may have distinctive perceptions, they can all be
organized into demographic groups with specific visual tastes. One
example is how women and men exhibit different preferences in the
arrangement and presentation of incentives. Here we will discuss possible
gender differences using an eye tracker to collect information regarding
users' fixation. We will examine whether such inclinations can encourage
recognition of specific information provided by precise items of a web
page.Studies suggest that the visual appeal of a website can effect
whether it is viewed as enjoyable, useful and easy to navigate. Decisions
regarding the desirability of a website, according to the interaction
paradigm of aesthetics, are formed through an interaction between the
website and the user. In other words, attractiveness is not only subject
to the characteristics of the website being viewed but also on how those
characteristics are received by a viewer. Since there is ample evidence
that women and men exhibit differences in what they recognise as
attractive, as we know from the interaction paradigm of aesthetics, quite
a few studies have tried to distinguish the differences in the aesthetic
values of men and women. There are some socio-biological studies that
support the claim that men and woman are different due to inherent
factors other than gender roles. For example, men tend to choose greeting
cards that are designed by men rather than cards that are designed by
women and vice versa. When asked to design a website women and men tend
to show different preferences in the elements they choose to use in the
design. For example women have a preference for lighter colours while men
prefer darker colours. Also women are more likely to choose images for
their website than men are. Men are believed to be visio-spacially
superior and thus favour 3D design while women have superiority for
colour vision. These hypotheses, however, have never been reviewed
against recent usability testing methods such as eye tracking.In an eye
tracker study by Worcester Polytechnic Institute 17 males and 19 females
between the ages of 20 to 60 were asked to complete a task on a specific
website using banners that were designed to aid navigation. All the
banners for this study contained the same information and differed only
in colour and design. The eye trackers that were used were non-invasive
and did not hinder the user's performance. These eye trackers were
programmed to detect when the user had looked at a specific banner for
more than 300 milliseconds, fixation. The study began with two hypotheses
on the behaviour of females and males towards visual stimuli.For this
test two hypotheses derived from socio-biological research were tested
against. Hypothesis one proposes that female users are more likely than
men to notice banners that have images of people. Contrary to what was
hypothesized, the study's analysis of the data collected by the eye
tracker did not show any significant difference between the number of
times the male and female users fixated on the banners with or without
images. In fact a self-report survey showed that male users found the
banners with pictures considerably more appealing than those without
pictures. The eye tracker also did not show a significant difference in
the visual appeal of the banners with or without pictures for women.
These results do not back the first hypothesis. Hypothesis two suggests
that female users, above male users, are more likely to notice the
banners with the lighter background colour. The eye tracker test did not
show a significant alteration in fixation between female and male users
observing the banners with dark and light backgrounds. The results of the
eye tracker test compared to the self-reported visual appeal of banners
with light and dark background showed no important variance in male and
female users. However a survey asking users to find banners that they
observed while taking the task indicated that the average number of
identified banners was significantly higher for the banners with dark
background than those with light background in the female user. These
results show that female users found the banners with darker background
colors significantly more noticeable. Male users, on the other hand,
found these banners as noticeable. The results did not support the second
hypothesis.Today's consumers demand services and products designed for
their particular and unique needs. Gender differences are only one aspect
for which a website can be personalized for individual users. Since
companies rely on banners to offer users some useful information,
examining factors that increase the visibility and utility of such web
items is of great importance to organizations. By showing that what was
reported in a survey did not necessarily match the fixation data
collected by the eye tracker, this study provides important information
for organizations and provides support for the importance of
incorporating methods other than surveys in usability research. The
results contribute to usability studies by suggesting that users' visual
preferences may be affected by the form of web items such as the banner
like form of the banners in this study. However, since the results do not
offer support for gender differences in banners noticeability and
preference, they present motivation for expanding the investigation of
gender preferences in web design and usage.