Re: Ten Second Delays

I wrote:
>>let's do one! All we need is for someone to set up two identical
>>sites, one with a splash page and one without, and get everybody
>>on this list to visit them and give their feedback on the
quality
>>of their "browsing experience".

And Kynn resonded with:

>http://www.idyllmtn.com/
>http://www.idyllmtn.com/splash.html


Kewl :-)

My thoughts:

1) Nice site, stylish but minimalist layout, quick to load.
2) Hmmm... a logo. Lets wait ten seconds... one two tum-ti-tum...
six... seven...ho-hum... ah! Nice site, stylish but minimalist
layout, not as quick to load as the last one I looked at ;-)

Well, as I expected (and as Kynn intended, I'm sure), I found that
this splash page did little to enhance my enjoyment of the site.

>http://www.idyllmtn.com/~kynn/
>http://www.idyllmtn.com/~kynn/splash.html

1) Hmm... more of a personal page so I can forgive some of the
annoying layout issues (sorry, Kynn ;-) )
2) Yikes! Browser check. Let me think about this... Yup, ok, let
me in...

This one was interesting. The "splash page" actually served a
useful purpose so I guess I can forgive it. If I had hit the site
in one of older browsers I probably would have been grateful for
the warning. But, I *wasn't* using one of my older browsers. Can't
you check this transparantly at the server and re-direct me if you
need to?

>http://www.hwg.org/
>http://www.hwg.org/working/kynn/splash.html


1) Nice layout. Were these pages updated recently? They used to be
much more boring. I really must check more often.
2) Well... that's useful I guess, but I already know what the HWG
is for. That's why I'm here. And if I didn't know, well the main
page tells me pretty clearly in the first two sentences anyway.

So here we say three possible uses of a splash page, although I
think only the first example completely fulfils our criteria for
being a splash page. Two examples were actually useful, but even
these could have been handled in different ways.

OK, I'm biased... I already knew I wasn't going to like them.
Also, it's not entirely a fair test. I believe the original motion
was along the lines of "a splash page can enhance the reader's
enjoyment of an artistic site by setting the mood for the material
contained therein". As these pages were business sites, we don't
really want of need a mood to be set...

So, what does everyone else think?


--
David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)goldenheroes.softnet.co.uk
"Mind, body, heart and soul: we've got rock and roll
 And there's nothing they can do" -- Ian Gillan, "Gypsy's Kiss"

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