It’s always nice when a something comes out that backs up something you’ve been asserting on your own for ages, especially when that thing seems to be common sense. According to eyetracking data from a recent study, numerals (27) catch user’s attention more than words of the same meaning (twenty-three). Things that are ‘out of place’ (numerals) always stand out from their environment (words), so it makes perfect sense that the same should be true for text. This is a concept I’ve tried to incorporate into my designs for a while now, and I think it really does make a big difference in helping users glean useful information from content.
[via InfoDesign]