Web designers should bear nano-content in mind when looking at the usability of their websites, it has been suggested.
According to Jakob Nielsen of Nielsen Norman Group, web users tend to only scan the first few characters of headlines and links on a website or in search results.
Consequently, websites should ensure their links and headings are appropriately constructed so that important information is accessible through these characters, Mr Nielsen stated.
His company conducted a study to see how well web users did when it came to understanding the first 11 characters of links on 20 different websites.
Ann Taylor was deemed to the be the best website for this when it came to a link called 'Gift Cards & E-Gift Certificates'.
About 85 per cent of users could predict where the link led after reading just the first 11 characters of the text.
Websites that performed poorly in this regard included Chase Bank, Directgov and Xerox.
Commenting on the Ann Taylor task, Mr Nielsen said: "There's money at stake, so designers are under a mandate to keep it plain and simple so that the site can make money.
"Gift certificates are a big revenue source for e-commerce sites."
An eye-tracking study conducted by Nielsen Norman Group in 2007 found that consumers tend to scan web content in an F shape.
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