Internet users judge Web sites in less than a blink

Study shows that Web surfers can give a yea or nay to a site in less time than it takes to blink.

The story "Internet users judge Web sites in less than a blink" published January 17, 2006 at 5:31 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.

[Razzl]

everything is reducible to principles...

"If design were reducible to a set of principles, wouldn't we find an awful lot of similar houses, gardens, cars, rooms?" said Lindgaard. "You'd have no variety."

A statement like that is something you get from a programmer who's unfamiliar with the academic disciplines involving design; graphic designers and psychologists know very well what types of things people are reacting to, and will eventually come up with specific applications ("principles") tailored to the web experience. After all, what does Lindgaard thing they're teaching at those university art departments and architecture schools?

As for variety, well, the uniformity of effect we call "style", for better or for worse, is effected by principles of some sort. We do find an awful lot of similar houses, cars, furniture, etc. in our worlds. We may face a future where web designers will discover the graphic elements required to seize the viewer's interest (and they will always be graphic elements, though audio may be employed more in the future) but that will just move the battleground to content...