atari, you cracker,

what did you do????

Glice has a crush on Absinthe Goblin.

yes but really

I guess fishmonkey is hurt because we always got along.

Anyone that treads on The Beatles can expect the same.


And it was my OPINION (I've always despised that word---since there's only Intelligence and Ignorance in actuality) that you deserved neg-repping for being a dolt as far as your idiotic negative comments about the greatest music ever made by anyone.

me? i just refused to look at amorphous blocks of text.

Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox for October 1, 1997:
How Users Read on the Web

They don't. People rarely read Web pages word by word; instead, they scan the page, picking out individual words and sentences. In research on how people read websites we found that 79 percent of our test users always scanned any new page they came across; only 16 percent read word-by-word. (Update: a newer study found that users read email newsletters even more abruptly than they read websites.)
As a result, Web pages have to employ scannable text, using

• highlighted keywords (hypertext links serve as one form of highlighting; typeface variations and color are others)
• meaningful sub-headings (not "clever" ones)
• bulleted lists
• one idea per paragraph (users will skip over any additional ideas if they are not caught by the first few words in the paragraph)
• the inverted pyramid style, starting with the conclusion
• half the word count (or less) than conventional writing

We found that credibility is important for Web users, since it is unclear who is behind information on the Web and whether a page can be trusted. Credibility can be increased by high-quality graphics, good writing, and use of outbound hypertext links. Links to other sites show that the authors have done their homework and are not afraid to let readers visit other sites.
Users detested "marketese"; the promotional writing style with boastful subjective claims ("hottest ever") that currently is prevalent on the Web. Web users are busy: they want to get the straight facts. Also, credibility suffers when users clearly see that the site exaggerates.
Measuring the Effect of Improved Web Writing

To measure the effect of some of the content guidelines we had identified, we developed five different versions of the same website (same basic information; different wording; same site navigation). We then had users perform the same tasks with the different sites. As shown in the table, measured usability was dramatically higher for the concise version (58% better) and for the scannable version (47% better). And when we combined three ideas for improved writing style into a single site, the result was truly stellar: 124% better usability. Site Version Sample Paragraph Usability Improvement
(relative to control condition) Promotional writing (control condition)
using the "marketese" found on many commercial websites Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446). 0%
(by definition) Concise text
with about half the word count as the control condition In 1996, six of the best-attended attractions in Nebraska were Fort Robinson State Park, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum, Carhenge, Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer, and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park. 58% Scannable layout
using the same text as the control condition in a layout that facilitated scanning Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions that draw large crowds of people every year, without fail. In 1996, some of the most popular places were:

• Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors)
• Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166)
• Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000)
• Carhenge (86,598)
• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002)
• Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446).

47% Objective language
using neutral rather than subjective, boastful, or exaggerated language (otherwise the same as the control condition) Nebraska has several attractions. In 1996, some of the most-visited places were Fort Robinson State Park (355,000 visitors), Scotts Bluff National Monument (132,166), Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum (100,000), Carhenge (86,598), Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer (60,002), and Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park (28,446). 27% Combined version
using all three improvements in writing style together: concise, scannable, and objective In 1996, six of the most-visited places in Nebraska were:

• Fort Robinson State Park
• Scotts Bluff National Monument
• Arbor Lodge State Historical Park & Museum
• Carhenge
• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer
• Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park

124%
It was somewhat surprising to us that usability was improved by a good deal in the objective language version (27% better). We had expected that users would like this version better than the promotional site (as indeed they did), but we thought that the performance metrics would have been the same for both kinds of language. As it turned out, our four performance measures (time, errors, memory, and site structure) were also better for the objective version than for the promotional version. Our conjecture to explain this finding is that promotional language imposes a cognitive burden on users who have to spend resources on filtering out the hyperbole to get at the facts. When people read a paragraph that starts "Nebraska is filled with internationally recognized attractions," their first reaction is no, it's not, and this thought slows them down and distracts them from using the site.
Learn More

We are getting several interesting findings about users' detailed reading behavior in our current eyetracking studies, which will be presented at the User Experience 2006 conference in Seattle and London. The conference also contains a full-day tutorial on content usability and a tutorial on advanced content usability.


> Other Alertbox columns (complete list)
> Sign up for newsletter that will notify you of new Alertboxes Copyright © 1997 by Jakob Nielsen. ISSN 1548-5552

see? read that ^^^

i have to say,porkmarras, you ruin the whole experience of being here with 50+ posts per day of total inanity and countless goofy topics that amuse no one but yourself and other losers.It's heartening to see you've scaled it back over the last few days. Keep up that good work, please.

i like porkie

i like atari too, but intellivision was too much

No, I had to scan because I have ADD like you.

I read it.

It's about commercial websites that are marketing something, not messageboards.
I'm sure the same principles do apply somewhat, but spare me.

PLEASE FUCKING SPARE ME!

don't...

There's nothing you could write that would change the facts.

Which, for those of you with ADD or ADHD are:

Total Posts: 12,308 (51.21 posts per day)
Find all posts by porkmarras
Find all threads started by porkmarras

okay man-- please, look, i'm not one of the ones attempting to crucify you. i just wanted an explanation for that incident. i didn't know you were he. that's all.

jeezus..

You're all as bad as eachother. Go to bed. Learn about love or something.

don't mean to sound like a whiny wounded person crying about the world, i'm certainly not, but i think i should follow everyneurotic & take a brief vacation from this board.

the reason? i'm too busy to waste time in this fucking constant drama. sure, i could ignore most of the stuff, but i end up getting sucked in somehow. and i have work to do! sure i an use a break, but if it's not going to be amusing, i refuse to play, or to play along, or even look at it.

have fun guys and really, ask yourselves if you want to waste your life doing this kind of crap. i know i don't.

bye!! :)

later, nigga.

The drama is just about all you ever want to post about and that has been going on with your posts for months now, so I don't know what in the hell you're carrying-on over...see ya later.

oh well fuck, that was a nice vacation, i enjoyed it immensely.

the thing is, out of a bizarre sense of loyalty, i refused to throw rocks at atari even if i think he's gone crackers. so rather than taking part in this shit i decided to leave until a) things calmed down or b) atari's medication kicked in, or c) both.

but since he just clarified he stands alone against the world, oh the world that's out to get him! well, fuck, the marriage is henceforth dissolved :p

no, seriously...

this is complete shit. trying to get at someone by his number of posts? have we lost it completely? i mean if you try to get at something with such pettiness, all we'll see is your pettiness and make the accused a hero.

viva porkie, for fuck's sakes. he may be many things, but he's certainly not painfully unfunny.

--

ps- atari, you are a cautionary tale for young potheads in this board. maybe you were crazy before you ever smoked weed, but you're living proof weed is no cure.

Look Atari, we did always get along and i hope we still will, i'm sorry man, and please dont think i mean any malice by this cuz i dont, you have a serious fondness for The Beatles and i respect this, fuck it i could lie and say i like em but i'd be lying, all i can say is i wont slag em off to a vulgar extent i do again and if i do i'll make sure i'm not within the company of yourself.
i mean that.