Re: Web Page Stickiness

**D* G* <d*@xplornet.com>**

I partially agree with both Yvonne and Bruce. Like all design stuff -
"it depends".  We're a bunch of writers/researchers who use the Net for
research and info. Others are "experience" searchers using the Net for
other purposes.  Your design depends on your viewer/user.  So if I was
writing for researchers, I'd design in one way (fast and clear)  If I
was writing for stumbleupon users, I'd design differently.

Music as Yvonne said can be very irritating. But - and it's a big but -
again depending on the demographic, it can increase or decrease the most
wanted response on any given page.  Depends on the music and the
visitor.  

Bruce has said that text based sites are the way to go.  Maybe for his
demographic. Check out your sites on something like google analytics (if
you're a gardening website) and see the impact of images on page bounce
and page retention.  Images are critical for some demographics.

Would I put flash or music on my home pages?  I agree with both Bruce
and Yvonne - no.  Would I have them included for a specific purpose if I
had that demographic - absolutely.  My target audience is gardeners -
and they like graphics.  So I do use flash for very specific purposes
within my site and in some cases link to those pages from the main page.
But I haven't run trials on my main index page to see the impact of
either flash or music on those pages.

The short answer for me is "it depends" on the demographic, the most
wanted response from each page and the effects as measured on analytic
software.  

As the ads say, "your results may vary." :-)

Doug

On Sun, 2007-22-07 at 22:05 -0400, Yvonne Cunnington wrote:
> Having music or flash on your home page is very bad web design, in my 
> opinion.
> 
> Both always irritate the heck out of me. Why? They slow down the flow of 
> info. And music when not expected is extremely annoying and disturbing to 
> anybody else in the room.
> 
> Well presented info is what I'm after on the web, not useless frills that 
> slow me down.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Doreen Howard" <gardendiva@charter.net>
> To: <gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 9:40 PM
> Subject: [GWL] Web Page Stickiness
> 
> 
> >I talked with a fellow listserv member about ten days ago about attracting 
> >and retaining visitors to a website.  He said that the home page should be 
> >"sticky," with elements such as flash presentation or music to keep hoppers 
> >from leaving.  That made perfect sense to me.....until I started putting 
> >together a new website.

-- 
Doug Green
Internet Publishing for the Garden
Home: http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com
Blog: http://www.douggreensgarden.com

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