title: Heat Map Testing - How should it affect modern web design?
body: <p>I'm an in house UI/UX/Web Designer at my company. Before hiring me our company had an enterprise level web consulting firm on retainer that we are "letting go of" soon. We are still using them primarily for feedback at the time until our contract is up.</p>
  
  <p>In the past, and particularly with some current feedback, this firm has referred a good bit to the importance of designing pages for the "F-pattern" that heat map tests have proven users tend to absorb web-contents with.</p>
  
  <p>My question is, how important and relevant are those types of Heat Map Tests to today's web design? The tendency seems that our consultant agency thinks we should "play it safe" and stick to the research. I.E. - build on what is proven.</p>
  
  <p>While that seems sensible, I think it is lacking in logic from the standpoint that the Heat Map Tests and the "F-pattern" come from how users tend to read blocks of text, and not as much with the interface. And indeed, if you see a heat-map image where there is an image in the text, usually the image has a longer dwell spot whether it fits in the "F-pattern" or not.</p>
  
  <p>So should the "F-pattern" dictate site layout and interface design, or does it refer less to overall design and more to content absorption?</p>