A new study done by a joint project between Stanford and Poynter reveals the truth behind how users browse through the Internet. This study may shock many of you. What some of us have known all along is that the Internet is a totally different medium than print.

One of the most basic findings is users who view web news sites look at text first and mearly glance at the graphics and photographs. This is 100% opposite from the webs counter part, which is print. A similar study found readers of print publications view the pictures first before the eye becomes drawn to the text.

While 64% of photos on a typical page were looked at, only 22% of graphics were. These tests also showed that not only did users look at text first but sometimes did not look at an image until they clicked off the page and back again. Some of you might say well that's because graphics take longer to download. Well the subjects surfed the web with a high bandwidth connection. This would download the graphics and photographs on the screen at a fast rate. I'm confident that the results of this test would be even more staggering if it was done on a dial up connection.

The old saying a picture is worth a thousand words may not hold as true on the Internet. One of the many problems with having pictures and graphics online is the long time it takes to download on the average modem. This will be a major inconvenience for the next 3 to 5 years.

The next problem is the screen size and color depth. Many users view your web site through a 15 inch screen. This does not leave much screen real estate for pictures and text. The same users may also have the ability to only see 256 colors. The color depth problem is going away though. Only a small percent of viewers see just 256 colors. This is due to the fact that high quality graphic cards are becoming cheaper to produce.

The last major reason is screen resolution. While print uses a high resolution (i.e. magazine pages) a monitor can only display 72 dpi (dots per inch). For now you just can't get such high definition on a monitor. Looking at a photograph online for the foreseeable future will not look as good as it does in print.

Now that you have this information what can you do with it to make your web site better? For starters make sure you have good content. When a visitor comes to your site make sure you give them text to read while the graphics download. Don't make them scroll. The text should be displayed on the first screen.

Focus on the layout and navigation of your site. The site should flow from one area to another. Use graphics and pictures as extras and let the flow of text hold your site together. Use background color and text color to dress your site up. This will save time on downloading.

As far as graphics go, don't worry about getting the perfect high-resolution scan of your pictures. No one will see them online in a high resolution anyway. Concentrate on having those pictures download fast.

You should build your site with the user in mind. Use your common sense and don't let your ego get to your head. Simple, fast and well-designed web sites are what the people want. So you might as well give it to them.

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