A new study has revealed that male and female users have differing preferences when it comes to surfing the internet.

The research by experts at Southern Illinois University showed that females tend to favour websites that offer ease of use, high levels of accessibility and simple navigation.

Meanwhile, men prefer sites that are easy to use and have fast response times, WebsiteOptimization reported.

Females were also found to be slightly more likely to look positively at sites that offer customisation options, although this was the least important factor for both genders.

The researchers behind the study said that their hypothesis for the reason behind these differences revolves around the idea that females generally use the internet to develop their relationships while males primarily turn to the web for information-gathering purposes.

Regardless of the gender differences, however, the fact that usability came out on top for both groups is significant for those in the web design sector, the report said.

According to eMarketer, just over 20 million UK males will go online this year, compared with 19.3 million females.

Furthermore, 22.1 million males and 21.6 million females will use the internet by 2013, the research company predicted.