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50,002 | ph0rque | 2007-09-04T15:25:27 | Telepresence: the next killer app (Cringely) | http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070831_002850.html | 8 | 6 | [
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|
50,005 | dpapathanasiou | 2007-09-04T15:37:58 | Setting Up Your Home Office for Your Business | http://www.entrepreneur.com/HomeBasedBasics/SettingUpYourOffice/archive143976.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,009 | brett | 2007-09-04T15:41:40 | Solar power is hot - a roundup of latest action | null | http://venturebeat.com/2007/09/04/solar-power-is-hot-a-roundup-of-latest-action/ | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,010 | dpapathanasiou | 2007-09-04T15:47:46 | "She Said Thank You" (Avoiding Procrastination) | http://avanoo.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/she-said-thank-you/ | 14 | 1 | [
50083
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,016 | baha_man | 2007-09-04T16:13:56 | Persistence of Myths Could Alter Public Policy Approach | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/03/AR2007090300933.html | 7 | 1 | [
50097
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,026 | baha_man | 2007-09-04T16:59:41 | Design Patterns are dead! Long live Transaction Patterns! | http://www.tonymarston.net/php-mysql/design-patterns-are-dead.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,027 | epi0Bauqu | 2007-09-04T17:06:29 | Google's Newest Role: Venture Capitalist | http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2007/tc20070831_697591.htm | 9 | 3 | [
50039
] | null | null | missing_parsing | Bloomberg - Are you a robot? | null | null |
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| 2024-11-07T07:17:07 | null | train |
|
50,031 | gregtallent | 2007-09-04T17:16:59 | Observations From a 3-month 1-Man Startup: Part 1 | http://www.yourmarker.com/general/addetail.php?section=n&category=news&code=nbu&adid=b649641789de9a73 | 1 | 3 | [
50058,
50084
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,037 | terpua | 2007-09-04T17:22:43 | Touch-screen iPod to take center stage | null | http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0709preipod.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:20:34 | null | train |
50,045 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T17:42:23 | Jotspot to Re-Launch as Google Wiki? | null | http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/09/rumor-mill-jotspot-to-re-launch-as-google-wiki.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,053 | sethg | 2007-09-04T18:04:10 | Fake Steve Jobs explains how iPod is the gateway drug for Mac | http://weblog.raganwald.com/2007/09/when-jamie-zawinski-speaks-your-case.html | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,059 | zach | 2007-09-04T18:12:07 | It's like "Da da dah-duh..." Simple notation and web search for tunes in your head. | http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=564 | 1 | 1 | [
50072
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,060 | ivankirigin | 2007-09-04T18:14:55 | Cory Doctorow: DRM vendors are pushing the impossible [DRM explained to non-geeks] | http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/sep/04/lightspeed | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,064 | vuknje | 2007-09-04T18:24:10 | When you are born, you know nothing | http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/hawkins.html?pg=1&topic=hawkins&topic_set= | 16 | 8 | [
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|
50,066 | byrneseyeview | 2007-09-04T18:25:20 | Prediction Markets put the Money back in Politics | http://70.47.124.114/node/875 | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | timeout | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T20:43:11 | null | train |
|
50,079 | danw | 2007-09-04T18:52:20 | 80% of RAZR owners would not buy Motorola again | http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content/15020.asp?men=2&sub=24 | 8 | 14 | [
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50091,
50137,
50157,
50194,
50131
] | null | null | timeout | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T00:37:23 | null | train |
|
50,081 | nickb | 2007-09-04T18:53:32 | How Marissa Mayer Almost Killed AdSense (and she names Paul Buchheit as the real AdSense inventor) | http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-09-03-n78.html | 20 | 12 | [
50151,
50085,
50265
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,086 | joshwa | 2007-09-04T19:12:14 | Evil Third-Party Social Graph Analysis | null | http://groups.google.com/group/social-network-portability/browse_thread/thread/bfacef4b707fbb6c | 11 | 1 | [
50277
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,098 | joe | 2007-09-04T19:40:38 | My startup. Comments? | Wondering what you all think of this. Does it make sense? Would you use it? Comments in general? | http://www.scriggle-it.com/ | 31 | 47 | [
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50,102 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T19:41:46 | World shocked, shocked by Sony's download move | null | http://valleywag.com/tech/online-video/world-shocked-shocked-by-sonys-download-move-296194.php | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,111 | markpeterdavis | 2007-09-04T19:59:12 | Proving You Can Execute In Your First Meeting with A VC | You're going to have to convince the VCs that you are more than a competent manager; they will ultimately want to know that you are ready to translate your vision into a business. Demonstrating this early on can mean the difference between gaining momentum or losing it... | http://getventure.typepad.com/markpeterdavis/2007/09/proving-you-can.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,116 | luccastera | 2007-09-04T20:06:41 | Coding Horror: Keeping The Menu Simple | null | http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000943.html | 8 | 0 | null | null | null | timeout | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:01:09 | null | train |
50,120 | danw | 2007-09-04T20:10:32 | Is Desire a Priority in Your Site? | null | http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/09/04/is-desire-a-priority-in-your-site/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | no_title | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T07:33:50 | null | train |
50,123 | davidw | 2007-09-04T20:14:01 | James Gosling: The Green UI | A blast from the past. | http://blogs.sun.com/jag/entry/the_green_ui | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-07T22:51:34 | null | train |
50,125 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T20:16:33 | Desperation Time? Synthasite Gives Stock Away To Users | null | http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/04/desparation-time-synthasite-gives-stock-away-to-users/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,126 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T20:16:57 | Hire IQ: 7 hiring tips for startups | null | http://www.foundread.com/view/hire-iq-7-hiring | 13 | 3 | [
50377,
50379,
50378
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,128 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T20:17:46 | Apple: The best PR gig in the Valley | null | http://valleywag.com/tech/apple/the-best-pr-gig-in-the-valley-296273.php | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,129 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T20:18:16 | Operation Enduring Start-Up | null | http://www.foundread.com/view/operation-enduring | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,130 | terpua | 2007-09-04T20:18:47 | iPhone was the best selling smartphone in July | null | http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/04/iphone-was-the-best-selling-smartphone-in-july/ | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | http_404 | Page not found - TUAW | null | null | TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Website) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple. This website is not affiliated with Apple Inc.
Copyright © 2024 TUAW. All rights reserved. | 2024-11-08T17:48:48 | null | train |
50,133 | nickb | 2007-09-04T20:20:58 | Using del.icio.us as a Writing Summarization Tool | http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/009424.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | no_error | Using del.icio.us as a writing summarization tool (by Jeremy Zawodny) | null | null |
The other day after I wrote There is no Web Operating System (or WebOS), I noticed that a few people had bookmarked it in del.icio.us. This is nothing new. From time to time I see people using del.icio.us to save a reference to something I write, maybe jotting down a note or saving a brief excerpt along the way.
But I checked back a day later to find that a number of people had saved it (31 at the moment) and some of them did make a note of some sort along with it. Reading through those notes, I realized that they really fall into a few groups:
A single quote from the article that the reader seems to think represents the spirit of what was said. For example, several folks quoted me saying "Computers need operating systems but networks don't."
A statement of agreement or support, such as "Peach it!" or "Right on."
A combination of those two
A restatement of the premise of the article in the reader's own words.
Interestingly, the majority of folks so far who've made any notes about the article did so via #1 above. A smaller number did #2 or #3. So far nobody has done #4, but I have seen that reaction to some of my previous articles.
It occurs to me that with a sufficient number of people bookmarking an article and selecting a short passage from it, I have a useful way to figure out what statement(s) most resonated with those readers (and possibly a much larger audience). It's almost like a human powered version of Microsoft Word's document summarization feature.
That's a pretty cool del.icio.us byproduct that I hadn't really considered before.
Posted by jzawodn at August 22, 2007 05:32 AM
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are mine and
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write here, the comments left by others, or the photos I may share. If
you have questions, please contact
me. Also, I am not a journalist or reporter. Don't "pitch" me.
Privacy: I do not share or publish the email addresses
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| 2024-11-08T02:59:00 | en | train |
|
50,144 | tuukkah | 2007-09-04T20:26:33 | John McCarthy turns 80 | http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/personal.html | 13 | 3 | [
50208,
50384
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,152 | danw | 2007-09-04T20:36:29 | This is not your father's telecom industry, Part 1: The future of connecting people | null | http://cognections.typepad.com/lifeblog/2007/09/this-is-not-y-1.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-07T09:40:17 | null | train |
50,154 | henning | 2007-09-04T20:38:54 | If PG and YC are such awesome hackers, why does news.yc use spacer GIFs? | Spacer gifs are present on paulgraham.com as well. C'mon mang, it's 2007, not 1997. CSS and semantic markup are the way to go. | 24 | 41 | [
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|
50,162 | szczupak | 2007-09-04T20:45:16 | Startup trends: Internet connection everywhere will arrive soon | http://www.businesshackers.com/2007/09/04/startup-trends-internet-connection-everywhere-will-arrive-soon/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,164 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T20:51:37 | Has Technorati Stopped Counting? | null | http://www.centernetworks.com/has-technorati-stopped-counting | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,165 | dottertrotter | 2007-09-04T20:52:14 | Chicago Area Y Combinator Readers Meetup | http://hackrtrackr.com/comments.php?forum_id=25 | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,167 | muriithi | 2007-09-04T21:00:06 | Scientist maps own DNA | http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/09/04/dna.venter/index.html?iref=mpstoryview | 2 | 1 | [
50172
] | null | null | http_404 | Error | null | null | Uh-oh!It could be you, or it could be us, but there's no page here.
| 2024-11-08T09:42:19 | null | train |
|
50,174 | theremora | 2007-09-04T21:17:36 | History of Boston VC's and the web (Cartoon) | seen on Scott Kirshners blog | http://www.itulip.com/images/bosotnvcsdates.jpg | 24 | 4 | [
50267,
50301,
50291
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,180 | baha_man | 2007-09-04T21:24:07 | New Genome Map Shows We're Way More Diverse Than We Thought | http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/09/the-genome-is-m.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,181 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T21:24:49 | Top 10 programming languages of the future (results are up) | null | http://www.redcanary.ca/view/top-10-programming | 3 | 5 | [
50211,
50204,
50195
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,187 | luccastera | 2007-09-04T21:31:05 | BetaHouse Incubates Web 2.0 | null | http://gigaom.com/2007/09/02/betahouse/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,190 | luccastera | 2007-09-04T21:36:31 | Martin Fowler Bliki: Customer Loyalty Software | null | http://martinfowler.com/bliki/CustomerLoyaltySoftware.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,191 | pg | 2007-09-04T21:37:00 | Mom's Genes or Dad's? Map Can Tell. | null | http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/03/AR2007090301106.html | 5 | 1 | [
50843
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,192 | luccastera | 2007-09-04T21:43:12 | B2B Opportunities for Web 2.0 Startups | null | http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/b2b_opportunities_for_web_20_startups.php | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T20:36:10 | null | train |
50,193 | mk | 2007-09-04T21:46:58 | Why Functional Programing Matters | http://www.math.chalmers.se/~rjmh/Papers/whyfp.html | 11 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,198 | pg | 2007-09-04T21:56:54 | Prism: Coalition of journal publishers fighting free online access to research | http://www.prismcoalition.org/ | 6 | 3 | [
50341,
50426,
50410
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,200 | mitch | 2007-09-04T22:01:01 | Taped Episode of Raw - TvByDemand | Forums | WWE | null | http://www.tvbydemand.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=800&FORUM_ID=49&CAT_ID=2&Topic_Title=Taped+Episode+of+Raw&Forum_Title=WWE | 1 | -1 | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,206 | kingnothing | 2007-09-04T22:09:17 | Opera 9.5 Alpha 1 Released Today | http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/next/ | 2 | 1 | [
50245
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,209 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T22:16:22 | Super Stealth Search Engine; Google Has Definitely Noticed | null | http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/04/cuill-super-stealth-search-engine-google-has-definitely-noticed/ | 3 | 2 | [
50241,
50294,
50293
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,210 | transburgh | 2007-09-04T22:17:29 | GooglePhone PR in the hands of CEO's girlfriend | null | http://valleywag.com/tech/marcy-simon/googlephone-pr-in-the-hands-of-ceos-girlfriend-296358.php | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,219 | steffon | 2007-09-04T22:34:26 | The New Economics of Music, or, why stealing feels so right | This article (part 1 and 2) has helped me think critically about new models for selling music, along with the process of discovering other kinds of user-generated content. | http://www.bubblegeneration.com/?a=a&resource=musicrisk1 | 9 | 11 | [
50475,
50268
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,221 | steffon | 2007-09-04T22:37:03 | Social Network Ad Spending Keeps Rising | Projected $900MM in 2007, $1,380 in 2008. | http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005257&src=article_he | 2 | 1 | [
50264
] | null | null | http_404 | 404 | EMARKETER | null | null | ProductsEMARKETER delivers leading-edge research to clients in a variety of forms, including full-length reports and data visualizations to equip you with actionable takeaways for better business decisions.PRO+New data sets, deeper insights, and flexible data visualizations.Learn More →ChartsProprietary data and over 3,000 third-party sources about the most important topics.Learn More →Industry KPIsIndustry benchmarks for the most important KPIs in digital marketing, advertising, retail and ecommerce.Learn More → | 2024-11-07T22:19:22 | null | train |
50,226 | null | 2007-09-04T22:55:54 | null | null | null | null | null | null | [
"true"
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,243 | centipede | 2007-09-04T23:32:51 | This would never convince a real manager, would it? | <b>A management perspective of the 'J' programming language - Updated 2004</b><p>Parts of it read like a lisper's gospel praising macros. <quote>Consider another typical case, the need to fill in a template with data from a record. This might be to create a customer statement or invoice to be mailed, an HTML form to be displayed, or some other such form. Replacing specific character locations on the template by character data from the record can do this. Where the "_" represents the characters to be replaced, code something like the following does the job.<p>into =: (# i.@#)@:=&'_'@:] }"1<p>That was the code needed when the original article was written. Now an even shorter equivalent is:<p>into =: I.@:=&'_'@:]}"1<p>This is simpler than before and incidentally, it is also faster and requires less space.<p>With a thing called "Record" containing an ASCII version of the record data with the same number of characters, as there are "_" positions on the character template called "Form". The phrase:<p>Record into Form<p>Then yields the desired result of a filled in form. </quote> | http://www.island.net/~gordon/jmanage.htm | 1 | 2 | [
50244,
50263
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,260 | neilc | 2007-09-05T00:15:47 | Inside the Googleplex | http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9719610 | 15 | 3 | [
50401,
50313,
50321
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,272 | bootload | 2007-09-05T00:48:56 | Texas Startup Says It Has Batteries Beat | http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/N/NO_MORE_BATTERIES?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT | 8 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,274 | bootload | 2007-09-05T00:54:43 | A Tool to Organize Our Many Organizers | http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/technology/circuits/02proto.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin | 2 | -1 | null | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,275 | rms | 2007-09-05T00:54:53 | Salt + Pure Tone Generator (the Chladni effect, looks like cells dividing) | http://www.videosift.com/video/Salt-Pure-Tone-Generator-Unadulterated-Cool | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,279 | binnymathews | 2007-09-05T01:12:29 | Joe Kraus - Confessions of a Startup Addict | http://www.brendonwilson.com/blog/2006/04/30/joe-kraus-confessions-of-a-startup-addict/ | 10 | 1 | [
50340
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,284 | ahsonwardak | 2007-09-05T01:47:22 | Regulating Google | http://nanotechlaw.blogspot.com/2007/09/regulating-google.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,285 | ahsonwardak | 2007-09-05T01:48:39 | How to UnGoogle Yourself | http://www.wikihow.com/Ungoogle-Yourself | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,286 | ahsonwardak | 2007-09-05T01:50:09 | The Creativity Imperative - Nurturing Nature | http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2007/08/the-creativity-.htmlf | 1 | 1 | [
50344
] | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-07T07:18:30 | null | train |
|
50,292 | bootload | 2007-09-05T02:09:54 | Fancy Formatting, Fancy Words = Promotion? Ignored | http://www.useit.com/alertbox/fancy-formatting.html | 3 | 1 | [
50345
] | null | null | no_error | Fancy Formatting, Fancy Words = Looks Like a Promotion = Ignored | 2007-09-04T05:00:00+0000 | Jakob Nielsen |
Summary:
A site did most things right, but still had a miserable 14% success rate for its most important task. The reason? Users ignored a key area because it resembled a promotion.
Putting the answer to a typical user's main question in big red type at the top of your homepage would guarantee high usability, right? Wrong — at least for the U.S. Census Bureau's homepage, where 86% of users failed to find the country's current population when it was presented in large red numbers.
Homepage for www.census.gov, as tested.
In a reduced screenshot, the population count is the only information that's clearly readable, so it makes the task easier than it is in real life. On the actual site, users often ignored the big red characters.
The following heatmap from one of our eyetracking studies shows how users looked at this homepage. Their task was to find the current population of the United States.
The areas users looked at the most are colored red;
the yellow areas indicate fewer views, followed by the least-viewed blue areas.
Gray areas didn't attract any fixations.
At first, the heatmap seems fine:
users scanned the main parts of the page,
the categorization of the main content area worked particularly well, and
users gave considerable attention to the Population Clock and the Population Finder.
On closer inspection, however, it's clear that users only fixated on the first third of the number that shows current population. In other words, people scanned that area, but didn't actually read the number. (Only a small percentage — as indicated by blue coloring — looked at the last 2/3 of the number.)
Where People Looked
Search-Dominant Users and Other Behaviors
Conflicting Usability Guidelines?
Where People Looked
As the following pie chart shows, only 14% of participants used the Population Clock to answer the question. None of the remaining users found the correct answer, though most did find the population for an earlier year somewhere inside the site.
How users reacted to the Population Clock in the upper right of the Census homepage.
Only 14% of test participants used this feature when asked to find the current population.
Most people saw the feature, but didn't use it to complete the task.
Although it's not the major reason this homepage design failed, banner blindness does play a role here. Users tend to ignore heavily formatted areas because they look like advertisements. Thus, about 1/3 of users never even saw the Population Clock. However, most people did fixate on this area because it's not as overly formatted as most promotional features. So, most users saw the Population Clock; they just didn't use it, even though it contained the exact information they were looking for.
Beyond banner blindness, the major reason this homepage failed is that it used made-up terms or branded descriptions rather than plain-spoken words. Terms like "Population Clock," "Population Finder," and "QuickFacts" are not as descriptive as a simple line of text that says:
Population of the United States: 302,740,627 (as of Aug. 31, 2007)
Search-Dominant Users and Other Behaviors
The heatmap above is averaged across users, so it's not the best way to analyze the Census homepage's usability. In this case, there were 4 distinct user behaviors at play, and we need to analyze each separately.
The following gaze plots show examples of the 4 main classes of user behavior:
Each gaze plot shows one user's eye movements:
each blue dot is a fixation, with bigger dots indicating longer periods of looking.
Plot A shows a classic search-dominant user. This user looked around the page briefly and then went straight to search. This was the predominant behavior in this study, accounting for 57% of users. The specific user shown in gaze plot A didn't look at the Population Clock at all; other search-dominant users had a few fixations in that area, but quickly abandoned it in their dash for the search box.
(Note that even this very search-dominant user took a quick look at all the other parts of the page — such as the left-hand navbar and the main content categories — but never looked at the right column with the ad-like areas. The user also stopped scanning the navbar when it turned into a graphical promotion and stopped scanning the content categories above the banner promoting a new survey. Banner blindness in action.)
Plot B shows a navigation-dominant user. This user looked at the navigation options — both in the center of the page and down the left-hand navbar — before clicking on the most promising link. Navigation-dominance was a rare behavior in this study; it's more common on sites that don't feature homepage tools, such as those that attracted users in plots C and D.
Plot C shows a tool-dominant user attracted to the drop-down menus and type-in fields of the Population Finder. Many sites don't have such interactive features, but when they do exist, they tend to attract a good proportion of users: people like parts of websites where they can do something and thus feel in control (even though they often fail, because of poor application usability).
Plot D shows a successful user who found and used the Population Clock to answer the question. This specific user was actually a search-dominant user, as indicated by the many early fixations in the search area. However, just before searching, the user was drawn to the Population Clock screen area and gradually engaged with it enough to realize that it contained the answer, freeing the user from having to search.
(Also note the long fixation on the "Census 2000" logo in the upper left of the content area: many users considered — or even clicked — this option, but of course it led to numbers that were 7 years out of date.)
Sadly, in this case, neither search, nor navigation, nor the Population Finder led the majority of users to the correct answer. Indeed, search was particularly bad on this site. One user said, "I know where I can probably find it faster: Google," and promptly abandoned the official Census Bureau site's own search. (In fact, she did find a reasonable — though less accurate — answer on another site using an external search.)
Although most users found some population number, whether from 2000, 2005, or 2006, it wasn't the current number. As one might expect from the Census Bureau, the site was rife with population statistics. The problem was that the outdated statistics weren't supplemented with links to the current numbers, violating the guideline to situate follow-ups in context.
Conflicting Usability Guidelines?
The Internet manager in charge of this losing design might defend the work by pointing out that it complies with #4 of my top-10 guidelines for homepage design: Offer a clear starting point for the main tasks users will undertake when visiting the site. Clearly, something was done right, with a task analysis that concluded that it would be a primary goal of visitors to this site to identify the current population of the United States and to have an easy way to find the populations of individual states and cities.
Even better, the site follows several recommendations from the full list of published homepage usability guidelines:
Guideline #4: Emphasize the highest priority tasks so that users have a clear starting point.
Guideline #29: Use examples to reveal the site's content. Rather than just describing what the site offers, the Census homepage states the actual population number. Juicy content for this type of site.
Guideline #53: Offer tools for high-priority tasks directly on the homepage. The Population Finder is exactly such a tool, and obviously attracted users. (We also asked people to find the population of Texas, and the success rate was much higher for this task.)
(This site does many other things right; here I'm listing only those guidelines directly related to finding the population number.)
Despite obeying so many usability guidelines, the site has the miserably low success rate of 14% for its most important task. The site fails users because it violates several other guidelines for homepage usability:
Guideline #19: Don't use clever phrases and marketing lingo.
Guideline #63: Limit font styles and other text formatting.
Guideline #91: Don't look like an ad.
So what good are usability guidelines if — as this example seems to show — they are always in conflict?
Actually, the guidelines don't contradict each other when it comes to the Census homepage. (Sometimes we do have conflicting guidelines, as in the matter of intranet staff directories. That's why we call them guidelines: because they aren't always firm and sometimes require interpretation or, in rare cases, deviation.)
In this case, though, it's possible to feature the high-priority tasks, show the main number directly on the homepage, and have a tool for the rest without using marketing-style terms, heavy formatting, and otherwise making the important area look like an ad or a promotion. That is, the designer could have followed all 6 guidelines simultaneously.
In many studies of corporate and e-commerce sites, we observe users ignoring the very page sections that have the most business value because the site is selling them too hard. Learn from the Census Bureau's mistake: try a softer approach with more straightforward, user-centered information. Let go of the fancy formatting and the fancy words.
| 2024-11-08T15:02:50 | en | train |
|
50,298 | dfens | 2007-09-05T02:20:48 | Article on Micropledge.com | http://www.stuff.co.nz/4188474a28.html | 1 | 1 | [
50347
] | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T17:52:54 | null | train |
|
50,299 | mudge | 2007-09-05T02:21:57 | Vint Cerf Discusses Future Internet Applications | In this short video Vint Cerf talks about future Internet applications. | http://www.govtech.com/gt/multimedia.php?id=139243 | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,303 | drm237 | 2007-09-05T02:36:43 | Wakoopa, Frengo, Squidoo: Are Stupid Startup Names Hurting Silicon Valley? | The search for a unique corporate name and identity may be backfiring in the Silicon Valley, according to an amusing article in last week's Los Angeles Times. Wakoopa, Frengo, Squidoo or Meebo all might be acceptable on an individual basis. But when every startup in the Valley begins opting for whimsy (and a non-stop barrage of vowels) over, well, making sense, the results can be less than desirable. | http://blog.wired.com/business/2007/09/wakoopa-frengo-.html | 11 | 15 | [
50331,
50318,
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50339,
50381,
50310,
50312,
50306,
50322
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,304 | drm237 | 2007-09-05T02:43:02 | Back to school means parents need to be there for kids | For many parents, "back to school" means life goes "back to normal." No more trying to find childcare for the littlest ones, and no more needing to invent things for the older ones to do while you're at work. Kids return to the classroom. Order is restored on the home front. And life goes back on cruise control, at least until Christmas break... | http://www.wltribune.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=37&cat=43&id=1056848&more=0 | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,307 | nickb | 2007-09-05T02:53:16 | Performance Tests for Opera 9.5 (Written by someone with a clue about statistics | http://nontroppo.org/timer/kestrel_tests/ | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,309 | nickb | 2007-09-05T02:56:19 | Why is X not written in Lisp? | http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/XinC.html | 3 | 1 | [
50351
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,314 | nickb | 2007-09-05T03:18:43 | Install Third-Party Applications on Your iPhone | http://lifehacker.com/software/hack-attack/install-third+party-applications-on-your-iphone-295985.php | 2 | 1 | [
50353
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,320 | transburgh | 2007-09-05T03:35:13 | College.com: Returning To Facebooks Roots | null | http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/04/collegecom-returning-to-facebooks-roots/ | 1 | 1 | [
50326
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,324 | ordersup | 2007-09-05T03:57:53 | Yahoo Buying Ad Network for $300 Million | http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/09/04/financial/f181417D52.DTL&tsp=1 | 9 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,325 | ordersup | 2007-09-05T04:04:13 | The Morning Norm - What Do All Entrepreneurs Have in Common? | http://blog.inc.com/the-morning-norm/2007/08/what_do_all_entrepreneurs_have_in_common_1.html | 2 | 2 | [
50355,
50533
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,329 | rms | 2007-09-05T04:14:46 | Cory Doctorow: Can giving away free electronic books really sell printed books? | http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2007/09/cory-doctorow-freekonomic-e-books.html | 5 | 2 | [
50342,
50357
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,334 | nreece | 2007-09-05T04:54:11 | Microsoft Pondering iPhone Killer? | http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/005324.html | 1 | 2 | [
50528,
50358
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,346 | tzury | 2007-09-05T06:07:50 | one program in 1116 variations | null | http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/ | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,352 | steffon | 2007-09-05T06:35:28 | Is your site provocative enough? (i.e. competing for attention) | Summary:<p>Be Visual
Be Different--Break Patterns and Expectations
Be Daring
Change Things Regularly
Inspire Curiosity
Pose a Challenge
Be Controversial and Committed
Be Fun
Be Stimulating. Be Exciting. Be Seductive
Help them have Hi-Res Experiences<p>All good things to remind oneself when developing a product (or at least the homepage/brand). | http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/09/be_provocative.html | 2 | 1 | [
50369
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,359 | cstejerean | 2007-09-05T07:10:12 | All UK 'must be on DNA database' | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6979138.stm | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,360 | rms | 2007-09-05T07:12:20 | Interview with Celera's Craig Venter | http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/19328/ | 5 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,361 | cstejerean | 2007-09-05T07:15:07 | Outsourcing as a Means to Bootstrap | http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070902/BUSINESS01/709020390/-1/ARCHIVES | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,362 | JohnnyRB | 2007-09-05T07:16:27 | What should be the skill set of the founders for a start-up in the early stages? | What should be the skill set - programming, design, marketing, etc. - for a start-up in the early stages? Put differently, what are the skills that should be present in the founders (and what would be the ideal distribution among them)? | 1 | 1 | [
50366
] | null | null | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
|
50,363 | cstejerean | 2007-09-05T07:18:31 | Google licenses AP and other wire content -- and stiffs newspapers | http://venturebeat.com/2007/09/04/google-licenes-ap-and-other-wire-content-and-stiffs-newspapers/ | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,367 | staunch | 2007-09-05T07:36:05 | Japan's Government to Waste $130 Million Fighting Google | http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b3046d5c-5b1d-11dc-8c32-0000779fd2ac.html | 8 | 4 | [
50402,
50569,
50368
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,371 | null | 2007-09-05T07:57:59 | null | null | null | null | null | null | [
"true"
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,372 | tempo | 2007-09-05T08:04:39 | So I got a startup job | Hi. This, my first blog post, explains what I learned in the process of getting a startup job in the Valley. Feedback of all kinds is welcome: from typos and style to things I'm so wrong about. | http://tempo32.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/so-i-got-a-startup-job/ | 23 | 7 | [
50649,
50601,
50420,
50376
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,373 | staunch | 2007-09-05T08:10:12 | Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 Launches, Will Support Linux | null | http://mashable.com/2007/09/04/silverlight-1/ | 2 | 1 | [
50506
] | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,380 | augy | 2007-09-05T08:52:36 | Sunday's Solutions | In the essay Why Smart People Have Bad Ideas, PG states<p>"Reading the Wall Street Journal for a week should give anyone ideas for two or three new startups. The articles are full of descriptions of problems that need to be solved."<p>This statement gave me an idea for YCnews. What if every Sunday (usually a slow news day) PG posts an article from the Wall Street Journal or any other publication, but instead of people just giving their opinions they gave their solutions to the problems presented in the article? People could then up-vote the solutions they liked the best. This would get everyone's thoughts flowing in the right direction, which is forward towards creation and innovation.
| 12 | 7 | [
50390,
50392,
50635,
50399
] | null | null | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
|
50,382 | baha_man | 2007-09-05T09:10:25 | Titan Rain - how Chinese hackers targeted Whitehall | http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/sep/04/news.internet | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,383 | baha_man | 2007-09-05T09:11:52 | How fake software scooped 16 awards | http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/aug/23/guardianweeklytechnologysection.it3 | 11 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,388 | bootload | 2007-09-05T10:23:43 | It Can Be Lonely at the Top | http://www.inc.com/gems/blog/2007/09/it_can_be_lonely_at_the_top_1.html | 2 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,391 | bootload | 2007-09-05T10:27:29 | 5000 Fastest growing US companies by region
| http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2007/maps/top-200-region.html | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,393 | jamongkad | 2007-09-05T10:39:00 | Business Web 2.0 Demands a Different Trust Fabric Than Social Web 2.0 | http://smoothspan.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/business-web-20-demands-a-different-trust-fabric-than-social-web-20/ | 4 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,394 | bootload | 2007-09-05T10:45:35 | What We Do, More Than Money, Format & Philosophy | http://ycombinator.com/about.html | 13 | 5 | [
50395
] | null | null | no_article | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T03:26:21 | null | train |
|
50,396 | nreece | 2007-09-05T10:59:09 | Official Digg for iPhone | http://digg.com/iphone#_stories | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,397 | solidcore | 2007-09-05T11:11:00 | ProfilePic.com social networking facebook myspace bebo | ProfilePic.com is a social networking teens network, free message girls and guys, create a free profile, safe images, 100% guranteed new friends.<p>Like myspace, bebo, facebook | http://www.profilepic.com | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,398 | bootload | 2007-09-05T11:11:57 | Easier to call my researcher in India than browse my Treo | http://notrocketsurgery.com/articles/2007/06/25/the-oursourcing-your-life-meme | 3 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,404 | baha_man | 2007-09-05T11:40:33 | A little anti-anti-hype | http://www.oreillynet.com/ruby/blog/2006/01/a_little_antiantihype.html | 1 | 0 | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
|
50,405 | dpapathanasiou | 2007-09-05T11:45:00 | What Comes After the Information Age? | http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/09/what_comes_afte.html | 3 | 2 | [
50408
] | null | null | Failed after 3 attempts. Last error: Quota exceeded for quota metric 'Generate Content API requests per minute' and limit 'GenerateContent request limit per minute for a region' of service 'generativelanguage.googleapis.com' for consumer 'project_number:854396441450'. | Radar - O’Reilly | null | By Ben Lorica and Claire Vo |
Now, next, and beyond: Tracking need-to-know trends at the intersection of business and technology
Areas we’re focusing on:
AI/MLFew technologies have the potential to change the nature of work and how we live as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
Future of the FirmEverything from new organizational structures and payment schemes to new expectations, skills, and tools will shape the future of the firm.
Innovation & DisruptionStay on top of the emerging tools, trends, issues, and context necessary for making informed decisions about business and technology.
Next ArchitectureSee how companies are using the cloud and next-generation architectures to keep up with changing markets and anticipate customer needs.
Next EconomyWe’re charting a course from today’s tech-driven economy to a “next” economy that strikes a better balance between people and automation.
| 2024-11-08T09:02:52 | null | train |
|
50,407 | omarabid | 2007-09-05T12:02:04 | New Version Of Barcode Maker : Great features | New Version Of Barcode Maker : Great features | http://barcodemaker.x10hosting.com | 1 | 0 | [
50419
] | null | true | null | null | null | null | null | null | null | train |
50,409 | prime0196 | 2007-09-05T12:19:53 | My Web 2.0 Application. Feedback wanted | The name of my application is Launchkey www.launchkey.com . It is a content monetization application for blogs/video websites. The core technology allows users to conduct searches within a website using keystrokes, but also can be used for links, images, and video.<p>Here are a few demos:
blog:<a href="http://launchkey.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">http://launchkey.blogspot.com</a>
video:<a href="http://launchkey.net/bunny" rel="nofollow">http://launchkey.net/bunny</a>
images:<a href="http://launchkey.net/vick" rel="nofollow">http://launchkey.net/vick</a><p>I currently have a new feature set rolling out soon, but I would like the opinion of this audience just in case the changes that I'm making aren't on target.<p>I have applied to Y/C for the winter session and I think my chances are slim because I don't have a Co-Founder. So if your a hacker with skills in this space, drop me a line (javascript.atlanta(at)gmail.com) | 3 | 5 | [
50911,
50433,
50909
] | null | null | invalid_url | null | null | null | null | 2024-11-08T16:37:59 | null | train |
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