Microsoft on eye tracking 5 Oct 2006

...Harris remarks that the last radical changes to the Office user interface were made prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The cascading menus and toolbars that were introduced back then have survived the 17 years since with little alteration. However, in recent years, user feedback has raised questions about the efficiency and usability of these elements (Indeed, Microsoft's mailbox is bulging with requests for the company to add features to Office that have already been added versions ago. This suggests that the existing menus and toolbars aren't helping users to find the features they need.).

Extensive use of eye tracking technology has helped Microsoft pinpont the problems with the existing user interface and uncover new insights into user behaviour. These findings are driving a complete overhaul of Office that has already seen the cascading menus and toolbars of old replaced with "ribbons", "galleries" and a whole host of other innovative design features.

Related:

• See a video of our own eye tracking technology in action.
• See the outputs of an eye tracking study we conducted involving major online retailers (including heatmaps).
• See the outputs of an eye tracking study we conducted for Seth Godin.
• See one of our clients talk about their experience of our eye tracking service (on Wednesday, 11th October, 2006).
• Learn more about our eye tracking service.
• Learn about how other big companies are using eye tracking.