A while back I heard a radio news program talking about the new face of the internet. The gist of the program was about how clicking numerous times to get to where you want to go is what is driving web sites now . I think the key term is page views… The more page views a site gets, the better the more clout with advertisers. Make your site a shell game and you get more clicks.
Not wanting to go all conspiracy nut here, but to me it seems like this is exactly what the new RPLS.com is designed for. A “click” factory, if you will.
I want to go to survey forum websites primarily to see what discussions are currently brewing. You don’t get a comprehensive list when you log into RPLS. First you get a list of the 10 “Recent Strictly Surveying Posts”, many of them redundant. At this moment RE: NEVADA STATE TREE is listed as the 6th recent post, just above the parent NEVADA STATE TREE post. If 9 quick replies had been made to NEVADA STATE TREE, I assume that all 10 “Recent Strictly Surveying Posts” entries would reflect NEVADA STATE TREE. If NEVADA STATE TREE isn’t my sole interest, I have to go to the top control bar and click FORUMS.
1 click
The next page gets me to the MAIN FORUMS page. For my convenience there is a list at the top with the options of:
150 Most Recent Forum Posts- Strictly Surveying Posts- Strictly Surveying Forum- All Activity
The strictly Surveying forum is what I want (actually I want ALL forums except Politics and Religion, but that ain’t gonna happen. I click STRICTLY SURVEY FORUM
1 click
I now have to scroll down the list of other survey forums (which really should be combined with the STRICTLY SURVEYING FORUM) to get to the list of post (do they get potential revenue for scrolling too? I’m thinking “yes” given the amount the site requires). The first measly 20 posts are listed. On a good day that’s 20 minutes worth of activity. I either find a post I want to view at this point
1 click
… or go to the next page
1 click
… and if I don’t like what I see, go back to the first page
1 click
Or continue to the 3rd page
1 click
(this is as painful to type as it is to browse the new RPLS).
You get the idea.
I’ve also noticed that way up yonder at the first step, the login, if you find an interesting post in the first “Recent Strictly Surveying Posts”, and if said post is a “RE” post that happens to be the 50th reply to the parent post, when you click it you go to the first page of the topic post and have to click page 2 or 3 or whatever to get to the post you saw on page 1
At least 2 clicks
Now that was relaxing. And it was fun running the gauntlet of all the other diversions that bookend both sides of every page…featured videos, featured blogs, featured users, search by tags... a veritable mine field waiting for sloppy clickers to stumble over them and yet steal more of your precious time here on earth.
Now, let’s go check out the “Other General Discussion” forum. After a word from our sponsors…
If RPLS wants to be the face1book of surveying, then that’s fine. But my recommendation would be to have a “Forums” link that goes here to beerleg.com and leave the forum management and design to the professionals.
Rant off
Yes, it does seem that page views are the hot topic when it comes to advertisers. However, forcing people to click things that could otherwise be removed, in my humble opinion, is ridiculous. For one, too many clicks will scare a lot of people away. It also takes away from the ease with which a site should be navigable.
Case in point: beerleg.com. Ok, it's not perfect, and I can't please everyone, but the whole point is to make it user-friendly. Easy. Simple. Fun. All these things mean reducing the number of clicks in order to make it enjoyable to those who frequent it. To further make this point, we are on track to have over 600,000 page views by the end of July. The fact is, the ease of navigating this site makes people want to continue reading and clicking more threads, because they get where they want in less time. At least, that's how it looks to me.
Further, I plan to make some minor alterations to make navigation even easier, at the suggestion of several users. Simple things like "next" and "previous" buttons from within a thread that takes you to the next or previous thread. But that is just one example. 🙂
Anyway, I'm not trying to say that I am some minor deity with special powers. My point is that people want the user-friendliness and I'm trying to make this site what the people want.
Yes clean simple is Good
here is a example of clean simple
http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-Civil-3D/bd-p/66;jsessionid=2F9FF9AC31338AE860DBA614BC66D101
sorry about the cut paste link
The fewer clicks to content, the more user satisfaction.
Pretty basic stuff.
That summation is correct. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but the whole Internet has been so badly commercialized that it is beginning to be non-functional in many ways.
Too many clicks to go somewhere only to be disappointed by where it takes you. Even Google advanced options seems to bring up hundreds of sites that have nothing to do with the subject matter. I am no expert on the subject, but there seems to have been an epidemic of scam search engine sites that come up with just about every Google search only to have no relevant subject matter.
It is the quickness of viewing the content of this site and choosing what you want to read that makes this site so functional.
I don't have an extra hour each day clicking multiple times and waiting. It's just like shopping: get in the store, find what you need, and get out. I don't want to wander around aimlessly.
I Agree
Clicking forward, then having to click back is a major PITA.
The internet games are being played everywhere. I Google a website I have used in the past by key words and get a bazillion hits on some related and many unrelated sites and just cannot find what I want. Miss-information is going to take over the internet and make it useless.
Paul in PA
I Agree
> The internet games are being played everywhere. I Google a website I have used in the past by key words and get a bazillion hits on some related and many unrelated sites and just cannot find what I want. Miss-information is going to take over the internet and make it useless.
A little off-topic, but I have been trying to find info on the State of Montana for trip-planning purposes. Put in any phrase with the word "Montana" in it into google, and you get mostly links to pages about "Hannah Montana".
I Agree
Try "tourism Montana".
I Agree
> Put in any phrase with the word "Montana" in it into google, and you get mostly links to pages about "Hannah Montana".
Be careful Dennis... They'll put you on a "watch list"
Carl
I Agree
Thanks SC, I have managed to find what I want, just kind of telling that google puts up more links to Hannah Montana than to the state.
I Agree
> Be careful Dennis... They'll put you on a "watch list"
>
> Carl
Contributing to POB P&R posts has probably already put me on that list....Ha!
D.J. Your Problem Is You Cannot Spell ''Montanta'' Properly
This is from a credible news agency:
I think the disasterwas to the English Language.
Paul in PA
D.J. Your Problem Is You Cannot Spell ''Montanta'' Properly
That is funny, because when I do a google of "montanta" it brings up plenty of good Montana sites. My new strategy with google will be to incorrectly spell search items.
screw google
Use Bing! http://www.bing.com/
guarantee it will be less spam-laden / error-prone than google
screw google
Wendell,
Surveyors are the greatest people in the World! We argue with each other all the time but it is all in good fellowship.
You are doing all of us a great service.
J.W.
screw google
🙂
