Eye Movement Patterns on Single and Dual-Column Web Pages
http://www.surl.org/usabilitynews/101/column.asp

Shrestha, Sav and Justin W. Owens
Usability News
2008

Abstract:

This study examines eye movement patterns of users browsing or searching a 1-column and 2-column news article on a web page. The results show a higher number of fixations for information in the second column of an article than for the same information in the lower portion of a single column. In addition, the typical "F" pattern appeared in the left column of the 2-column layout, but not in the right column. Users also fixated more on other page elements, such as ads, when they were browsing than when they were searching.