The effect of picture attributes of online ordering pages on visual attention and user experience

• Published in: International journal of industrial ergonomics Vol. 96; p. 103477
• Main Authors: Dong, Yifan, Huang, Yanqun, Hu, Pingwang, Zhang, Peng, Wang, Yuzhen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.07.2023
• Subjects: Online ordering page; Picture attributes; User experience; Visual attention; User experience; Online ordering page; AOI; Visual attention; Picture attributes
• ISSN: 0169-8141
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ergon.2023.103477

The popularity of online ordering services is increasing daily, with food pictures playing a critical role in influencing user attention and experience. In this study, 58 participants were enrolled in a 2 (saturation: higher vs. lower) × 3 (Area of interest: category vs. picture vs. text) within-subject experiment using large and small pictures to evaluate the impact of picture attributes on user responses. A combination of eye-tracking technology and a questionnaire survey was used for the measurement. The results suggest that for larger food pictures, the picture area received more attention than the category and text areas when pictures were highly saturated, whereas the category information was more appealing than other areas when pictures were low saturated, and the user experience of the overall page was higher than in other cases. For smaller food pictures, the picture area attracted initial attention, whereas the text area gained more fixation than the other areas. The findings of this study provide empirical suggestions for designing online interfaces for ordering services and webpages. •Size and saturation of a local area affect attentional distribution of the whole ordering page.•Small or high-saturation pictures on an ordering page are most likely to attract initial attention.•Large and high-saturation pictures increase user experiences of the whole ordering page.