Start from the left

Quick tip of the week: make your pages fit the 'F-pattern'.

This isn't a scary diet from the seventies! Readers of English scan web pages in an F-pattern, mainly concentrating on the left-hand edge. Their eyes dart across to read the title or headline, then again when something draws them in. So the pattern resembles a large capital F drawn on top of the page. See Nielsen's site for some eye-tracking results demonstrating this.

Bearing this in mind, put your important things on the left. Start headings with the important words, front-load each bullet point with key messages and align decorative images to the right. Do everything you can to catch those eyes as they scan down the left margin.

If you have one sentence you don't want users to miss (book online now, get more support, download a free copy, etc) put it at the top-left of your page.