How to Read a Webpage

Here is the Tesco website homepage, i.e., the first page you come to when you go to Tesco’s website:

Wow! So much information! Where to begin?

I’m going to use the Tesco page above as an example, to help you make better sense of how websites work, so that you can make them work for you.

 

I have been with customers looking at a website, and I know that the customer is not engaging with what is on the screen. There is too much information to absorb, there is a seeming jumble of words and images, and trying to read in the traditional sense (start top left, line by line down the page, finish bottom right) does not work very well at all.

(Although I’d say I was very familiar with how websites work, I know exactly how these customers feel. When I watch those Saturday afternoon football results programmes (on the BBC, or Sky Sports News) I find it very difficult to know where to look! I’m trying to listen to the commentator, there is a tickertape banner at the bottom of the screen, there are latest scores mid-way down the screen, there are league table scores on the right, and … and …! Argh!! Where to look??? I’ve been practising lately, so I’m getting more relaxed with the programme, but it has been an interesting challenge. Young people seem to have no problems with it. Is this an age thing? Or an experience thing? Answers on a postcard to …!)

 Now back to the Tesco example. Let’s start analysing how this page works – and it is a very successful type of webpage. If we know how it works, we can begin to see how we can make sense of it for our purposes.

 The first point to make is that this page is not designed to be read in its entirety from top to bottom. In fact, it is the kind of text that is specially designed so that it is OK not to read everything on the screen.

Let’s go back a stage – why are we looking at the Tesco website? Usually, when going to a website, we have a particular purpose for being there. That idea of purpose is going to help us, because it will make us read the page in a particular way.

But Tesco are a clever bunch! They know that we go to their website with our purpose in mind, but they also want to give us other options for being there. I may have gone to Tesco to look at insurance prices, but I cannot avoid seeing the top banner. Not only is it eye-catching, but it is also at the top of the page, the part of the page I’m going to see first when I open the Tesco Homepage for the first time.

Also notice that the Tesco name and the Tesco slogan (“Every little helps”) are in the top left corner of the page. The top left corner is a very important part of the page, because as competent readers we naturally want to start reading this page from top left (and we expect to finish bottom right – see what Tesco have put there!)

If I am strong-willed enough to resist the temptations offered by Tesco, I can now start to find what I want on this page.

To do that, I need to skim and scan.

Skimming is speed reading to get the gist of a page or text.

Scanning is looking for a specific piece of information.

Both involve quickly letting the eye rove over the page, with a particular purpose in mind.

 Try it with the Tesco picture above:

• Where would you click on that page to look at the price of wine? (Easy!)
• Where would you click to buy flowers? (Quite Easy)
• Where would you click to do online grocery shopping? (Harder)
• Where would you click to find out how to contact Tesco? (Quite Hard)

If you’ve done the last one, you will have found the border at the bottom of the page, beloved of companies who want to make you search hard for some kinds of information. (I wonder why!)

Some of us need to practise skimming and scanning. Most youngsters these days are taught those skills at school, but some, possibly older users of webpages, may be put off “getting to grips” with a website because they think they have to read every word on the page. Not so! It’s OK to skip parts of the page as you skim and scan.

There are times when we all need to read the small print on screen very carefully indeed, but that’s a topic for another piece.

For the moment, it is sufficient if you have:

·         understood something about how website pages work, especially ones belonging to commercial organisations;

·         had a go at skimming and scanning;

·         understood the importance of having a purpose for going to a particular website and for skimming and scanning.

Now for homework!

Go to some other supermarket websites, give yourself a purpose for being there, and practise skimming and scanning to find what it is you are seeking.

You may also want to comment to yourself on how different or how similar supermarket websites are, in terms of:

·         general layout;

·         top left/bottom right usage;

·         top banner/bottom border content.

Not only will you be able to make sense of website pages, but you will also be more aware of the techniques companies use on their websites to separate you from your money!

Have fun skimming and scanning – making websites do what you want them to do.