Err, that’s the headline. But I’d like to think of it more as “we know better what we want these days”…
Web users are getting more ruthless and selfish when they go online, reveals research.
The annual report into web habits by usability guru Jakob Nielsen shows people are becoming much less patient when they go online.
Instead of dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave.
Most ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention.
That sounds smart to me. Now, about those site operators…
“People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience,” [Dr. Nielson] said.
“I do not think sites appreciate that yet,” he added. “They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them.”
Web users were also getting very frustrated with all the extras, such as widgets and applications, being added to sites to make them more friendly.
Such extras are only serving to make pages take longer to load, said Dr Nielsen.
Less is more. And search rules, “only 25% of people travel via a homepage. The rest search and get straight there.”
No word on RSS…I guess that’s still the future: