Can Fixation on Main Images Predict Visual Appeal of Homepages?

Research suggests that a main image on a homepage creates a distinct visual hierarchy that maybe inherently appealing to people. This in turn suggests that main images may play an important role in shaping user aesthetic reactions to a homepage. Research also shows that images of people are effective in drawing attention and that these images are pleasing to users. Grounded in these two lines of research, we show that fixation on main images has significant positive relation to visual appeal ratings of 24 homepages. We also show that when images of people are included in the main image, they attract more attention. Our results also show that users give higher visual appeal ratings to homepages that include images of people in their main image. These results and their implication for theory and practice are discussed.