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Dark_Lotus · May 2, 2007, 05:57 PM

What kind of sites do you bookmark? Of course the content type must have some interest to you, but after that, what are your requirements for a website? I'm trying to get some inspiration for a new web site that would give something back to the internet community, and would be a useful website to have bookmarked. I know that a lot of people are looking for the next big idea like youtube, digg, google, or myspace, but I just wanted to have an open discussion about what users look for in websites.

SSharon · May 2, 2007, 06:06 PM

I can tell you what I don't look for.
Animated ads and banners all over the place. Audio or video that play automatically.
I go for the simplistic websites that give me what I want in a prominent position. Slashdot is an example of a page I check regularly even though it could be better.

Rumor · May 2, 2007, 06:23 PM

Quality resolution for the pr0n videos

Someone had to say it.

besson3c · May 2, 2007, 06:42 PM

I look for content. Content is king. Beyond that, usability, and aesthetics, in that order. I generally dislike Flash sites.

indigoimac · May 2, 2007, 07:47 PM

Efficiency of info/data delivery, and some semblance of it looking pretty

starman · May 2, 2007, 10:20 PM

Content is not king. If you have great content with Netscape 2.0-type graphics (e.g: StarMan Group) then nobody will read it.

It's a balance of both.

besson3c · May 2, 2007, 10:26 PM

Originally Posted by starman

Content is not king. If you have great content with Netscape 2.0-type graphics (e.g: StarMan Group) then nobody will read it.

It's a balance of both.

"Content is king" is some old media theory, although I can't remember the source. I disagree with your point - if your content is really that valuable, people will read it off of toilet paper. In actual practice, not too many websites have content this valuable and unique though

Dark_Lotus · May 2, 2007, 10:40 PM

What sites do you guys visit on an everyday basis and what do you think should be changed about those sites?

Jawbone54 · May 2, 2007, 11:19 PM

Flash sites are often more trouble than they're worth.

I love a good, clean, efficient site. Usability is KING.

I also like very clean sites. Not a lot of unnecessary graphical nonsense. MySpace, for instance, has more going on than it needs, for sure.

SpaceMonkey · May 2, 2007, 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by Rumor

Quality resolution for the pr0n videos

I only visit them for the articles.

el chupacabra · May 3, 2007, 08:54 AM

I hate hate hate HATE flash, and if the site is dictated by too much flash I don't care what the content is I get angry close the window never going back.

I like websites with some kind of information about how do something, where to go, history, anything that teaches something interesting; and it must be easy to navigate such as have a side bar or top bar of topics. I command click pages/links into tabs so i don't forget them (another thing flash inhibits).

SSharon · May 3, 2007, 08:58 AM

An example of a bad page is gumball3000.

andi*pandi · May 3, 2007, 10:24 AM

sites I bookmark are those that have good info that I may not remember the URL in a month.

youtube etc I don't even bookmark, I just go when I want to.

Cipher13 · May 4, 2007, 12:33 AM

This is what I look for in a website. If any of the following criteria are not met, I won't ever visit it again.

1. It must have no background music.
2. It must have no flash-based ads or any ads that make sound.
3. It must have very little flash-based content unless it's very well done.
4. It must have no video clips embedded in the frontpage.
5. It must have none of those ads that obscure a part of the screen until collapsed.

Goddamn I hate seeing all that ****.

zro · May 4, 2007, 12:40 AM

Click thrus are very high on my "do not want" list, but nothing gets to me like using JavaScript to move and/or resize my browser window. I totally hate that and get out as fast as I can.

Cipher13 · May 4, 2007, 12:42 AM

Originally Posted by zro

Click thrus are very high on my "do not want" list, but nothing gets to me like using JavaScript to move and/or resize my browser window. I totally hate that and get out as fast as I can.

Yeah, that too. I usually have JavaScript disabled.

I've seen some JavaScript ads lately that cause a dialog box to pop up, and no matter what you do to it all your open pages get redirected to their website.

Awful.

Graviton · May 4, 2007, 03:49 AM

Titties

red rocket · May 4, 2007, 04:41 AM

Something else I don't like is when the retards split some article into 10 individual pages. Every article should be readable in full using no more than scrolling.

analogika · May 4, 2007, 05:43 AM

Originally Posted by Cipher13

This is what I look for in a website. If any of the following criteria are not met, I won't ever visit it again.

1. It must have no background music.
2. It must have no flash-based ads or any ads that make sound.
3. It must have very little flash-based content unless it's very well done.
4. It must have no video clips embedded in the frontpage.
5. It must have none of those ads that obscure a part of the screen until collapsed.

Goddamn I hate seeing all that ****.

All of that, with one exception:

If I visit a band's/musician's homepage, I'll expect some sort of audio. Unless it's some really low-key ambience, I still prefer it being a voluntary thing, though. (i.e. I have to actually click "Play" on an embedded player)

I don't mind gentle sound effects on buttons or menus, as long as it's tastefully and subtly done and not TSCHACK! ZZZZZZZROOOOWT! FROOWSCH!
But even subtle sound effects can get annoying after the fifth time.

Also, there is a major difference between sites visited once to get informed and make contact, and sites visited regularly because of regularly updated content. Very different aims. The former can get away with a lot more flashy "impress-me" stuff than the latter can, because anything you notice the first time around really gets on your nerves by the seventh time.

The art is doing stuff that isn't noticed until the third visit.

Kevin · May 4, 2007, 06:31 AM

I don't look for any one thing. But pages that have tons of ads annoy me. If I like a site I like it. There is no style or template I can say that I like.

Aron Peterson · May 4, 2007, 06:58 AM

Tutorials and how-tos.

Big Mac · May 4, 2007, 08:18 AM

Well designed, cohesive sites with polished UIs and solid content.

besson3c · May 4, 2007, 08:27 AM

Do you guys remember all of those "portal" pages that were all the rage in the 90s? Pages that insist on throwing as much content as physically possible onto a single page? Links out the wazzoo, stories on this or that, ads, etc.?

What do you guys think of modern iterations of these portal pages, such as the Yahoo homepage?

red rocket · May 4, 2007, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

What do you guys think of modern iterations of these portal pages, such as the Yahoo homepage?

I don't like Yahoo. The name is stupid* and the page is too busy. Who the hell uses portals, anyway? AOL users?

*(Yahoo (literature), creatures found in the book Gulliver's Travels. The Yahoos were uncivilized human-like creatures in a land ruled by horses.)

PB2K · May 4, 2007, 10:27 AM

originality, smart, quick with news and I have to feel at home. You can't fake a 'home' for me.

I just hate those sites that are spoiled by teenagers who are short sighted but have a big mouth, (macnn is becoming such a place, unfortunately)

Kenneth · May 4, 2007, 12:09 PM

Huge load of info, outdated bookmarks...sadly.

Kevin · May 4, 2007, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by PB2K

I just hate those sites that are spoiled by teenagers who are short sighted but have a big mouth, (macnn is becoming such a place, unfortunately)

Sad thing is PB, those aren't teenagers.

)c:

osiris · May 4, 2007, 01:42 PM

I like a clean, fast loading page. What gets my goat are pages that link to ad farms that need to load before anything else.

Big Mac · May 4, 2007, 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Do you guys remember all of those "portal" pages that were all the rage in the 90s? Pages that insist on throwing as much content as physically possible onto a single page? Links out the wazzoo, stories on this or that, ads, etc.?

What do you guys think of modern iterations of these portal pages, such as the Yahoo homepage?

I can think of something even worse: the Push phenomenon, when webmasters thought the big new thing would be "dynamic" content through the automatic reloading of a page at a regular interval? That sucked the big one.