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We all have some vague notion that we can’t visually focus on everything in our field of vision at once, but just how little can we really see at once? This is a very important question for web designers and information architects. James and I are working with Andy Edmonds of StomperNet to build a browser type application “that simulates the limited high resolution vision available to humans as they use the computer”, called or
Foveal Gaze Simulation Software Scrutinizer.

Basically the app applies a filter over the web page your viewing that allows the region around your mouse to be in focus, while the rest of the screen is blurred out. This is to illustrate the difference between what your fovea and periphery of your eye see. This way you can see what your users see more or less and apply some usability best practices to improve conversion or generally make your site easier to use. Specifically you can make adjustments like button positions, whitespace, navigation bar headings and typography. The idea is to use the science behind vision to improve your site without really needing to understand it all;-)

James built this app with AIR. Using the HTML functionality to implement a simple browser and Flash to create the filter over the web page. We had a few interesting challenges getting the page interactions and events to work through the Flash filter, but it’s working pretty well now and will only get better:) On interesting feature you might miss is that you can adjust the size of the focused region with the mouse wheel. This simulates the narrow detailed foveal view when zoomed vs the larger less focused foveal view for rapid scanning when zoomed out.

The masses really are starting to think that usability is cool, even Scoble plugged Srcutinizer! Quick buy some shares in user experience!

Scrutinizer is free, so go download it.

[Update] There’s a super handy Top 10 uses for Scrutinizer posted on the site that includes suggestions simulating eye tracking in a usability study, testing findability, assessing the ease of a multi step process and more.