What matters most, in your opinion?

Heather said: "When you visit a website, what matters the most to you and why? To me, load time is important. Waiting forever for a page to load :eek: I didn't know what to do when the site was down last week, but glad that you didn't get that worm!"

raven said: "Oh, I agree. If a site takes longer than 6 seconds to load I go elsewhere. There's millions of sites on the net, I don't need to waste my time waiting for a slow site to load. Drives me bananas!"

edwin said: "i like the google idea. fast loading websites with a minimum of graphics and high usability!"

Darksat said: "Fast, good content and clean navigation"

Darren said: "If it's an ecommerce site, I'd say ease of ordering. Don't make it hard to contact your company if you're selling a product."

Darksat said: "Very good point, you have to make the user feel secure if he is going to trust you. if you are selling you have to look reputable. but thats really from a designers perspective, from a users perspective I would still say speed and efficient navigation."

quinny said: "i hate it when sites have things all over the page. good simple layout, [I]simple[/I]"

Darksat said: "[QUOTE=quinny]i hate it when sites have things all over the page. [/QUOTE] its called text. :p"

quinny said: "ha ha ha funny man :rolleyes:"

Darksat said: "Thanks [IMG]http://www.web-mastery.net/images/icons/icon12.gif[/IMG]"

quinny said: "your welcome :rolleyes:"

Darksat said: "Any time. :D"

raven said: "I also dislike flashing things (animations, ads or otherwise) on a page. The first thing I do, if I really want to see the site, is move the flashing area out of my view. All it does is make me want to hurry and get done so I can leave the page."

Darksat said: "Any form of animation makes it hard for the eyes to focus on the rest of the page. even flash, which is why flash loops are not a good idea unless they are small & subtle."

mark said: "I have to agree that speed is of the highest importance to myself when surfing. If I have to wait for a page to load then I will usually look elsewhere. Next I suppose It would be navigation and usability. ;)"

raven said: "[QUOTE=mark]I have to agree that speed is of the highest importance to myself when surfing. If I have to wait for a page to load then I will usually look elsewhere. Next I suppose It would be navigation and usability. ;)[/QUOTE] How much time do you give them, Mark? I give them 6 seconds!"

edwin said: "i agree. anywhere at 10 seconds or greater and i hit the back button. if the first page loads that slow, what will the rest be like?"

mark said: "I'd say that it'll be between 5 and 10 secs. The only exception being if it's a site I am particularly looking for and then I'll wait forever :D I use Opera as my browser so I'll just use a new tab and look for something else at the same time. :)"

<h1> said: "Well I think of a few things i'll try explain them in order of importance... What matters most imo is the first impression. Lets think about it, the first thing you see on a website is the layout and graphics. So how can a website make a good impression? To combine the methods of google with a slick interface ofcourse. Things should be on a site for a reason, and not just for being there. IE the website shouldn't be trying to trick the user....it should be "simply complicated". But what matters most is the method is which you build the site. To be able to create a good impression without large images and to simplify the complicated process is the key to a good site. I really like [URL=http://www.ghostbone.com]this guys[/URL] methods of making sites. View some of the sites he has done. peace"

theHostingFinder said: "Well I did like Ghostbone's site... Cool! But most of us are making sites that try to sell something, or provide information etc. Then it's very important to get your message across - fast. Like several people say here, you've got only a few seconds to make an impression. The visitor must immediately get what your site is all about. If I get confused about what a web page is trying to tell me, I leave. Sure, as a designer you may be tempted to impress with "cool" effects... but they will turn people off, since they make the page load slower. I like to use some images & graphics, though - or else it gets boring! Both for the visitors & for me... ............................................ [url="http://www.thehostingfinder.com"]Cheap web hosting rated[/url]"