Most of your documentation is never read.

That’s not pessimism—it’s eye-tracking research. Nielsen Norman Group studied 232 users across thousands of pages and found that 84% scan before committing to read. Only 16% read word-by-word.

We’ve been writing documentation for a behavior that barely exists.

The F-Pattern

Eye-tracking reveals a consistent scan pattern shaped like the letter F:

  1. Top horizontal sweep — Users read across the top first
  2. Second horizontal sweep — Shorter, lower on page
  3. Left vertical scan — Down the left edge, looking for hooks

This means the top 30% of your page gets the most attention. The left edge of each line gets scanned. The first 2 words of each line matter disproportionately.

Structure Beats Style

Insight
Documentation quality correlates more strongly with structure and scannability than with writing style or technical depth.

You can spend hours polishing prose. But if your critical information is buried in paragraph three, scanners will never find it.

What actually works:

  • Front-load answers — Don’t build up to conclusions, start with them
  • Optimize the left edge — Keywords first, not buried mid-sentence
  • Chunk content — Working memory holds ~4 items; lists over 7 lose readers
  • Use headings as signposts — Generic “Overview” tells readers nothing

The 60-Second Test

Here’s a simple validation: Can a reader grasp your main points in 60 seconds without deep reading?

If yes, your structure is working. If no, you’re writing for the 16%.

What This Changes

This research challenged how I think about documentation. The instinct is to write thoroughly, explain completely, build context before conclusions.

But readers don’t operate that way. They’re scanning for relevance before investing attention. Your job is to help them find it—fast.

Deep Dive

This post covers the headlines. For the full framework with implementation patterns across six categories—structural, reading flow, visual hierarchy, cognitive load, scannability, and progressive disclosure—check out the complete resource:

Documentation Patterns →

Sources

  • Nielsen Norman Group: F-pattern eye-tracking studies (232 users)
  • Cowan (2001): Working memory capacity research (~4 chunks)
  • Diátaxis Framework: Daniele Procida
  • Google, Microsoft: Developer documentation style guides