What Annoys You About A Website?

Websites need to be usable, easy, and simple.

Web content management firm SDL Tridion has recently released some research into which parts of a web site design internet users find most annoying - and coming in on top of the list is advertising and too much flash.

Around eighty percent of people surveyed said that advertising was by far the most annoying and frustrating experience, turning them off the websites. Pop up advertising and adverts that covered parts of the content (until clicked) we’re the worst offenders.

This kind of annoyance is very indicative of what is called “bimbo web design” - meaning sites that are attractive and look good but have no real content or substance. Content is King with web site design.

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Generic Domain Names Approved

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved a new plan to allow the registration of generic domain names.

This will allow people to register what ever domain sufix they want for their website. No more will you be limited to finding a .com, .com.au, .net, etc domain name.

Furthermore, people will be allowed to register domai names with non-latin characters, whcih will pave the way for international sites to use russian, chinese, and other unique characters.

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The Man Who Sold His World

Ian Usher from Perth Western Australia is currently selling his entire life as a package on EBay - and bidding is around the $400,000 mark at the moment.

Part of the deal includes his house in Perth, all of the furniture including LCD TV and Hi-fi, all the electronics and appliances, his motorbike, car and even his Jet Ski.

Originally from the UK, Ian moved to Perth with his wife but they later separated. Ian says that the breakup was so painful, that he wants to sell everything that reminds him of his life here in Perth, and use the money to set himself up somewhere else - possibly back in the UK.

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iTunes TV downloads hit Australia

APC Mag is reporting that iTunes has finally started to release downloadable video content through it’s Australian stores.

Read the article below:

TV show downloads in iTunes Australia from today, with attractive pricing.

If you’ve had an Apple TV or a video-capable iPod at home since March 2007 and have struggled to find genuine local content for it you’ll be pleased to hear that Apple Australia today introduced TV shows to the Australian iTunes store.

We’ve yet to receive a press release from Apple but if you log on to iTunes you’ll notice a big yellow sign that says ‘TV Shows Just Added’. Clicking the link takes you to the new TV Shows section, where I found 29 different TV shows ranging from international hits like ‘Lost’ to popular local shows like ‘We Can Be Heroes’. Pricing for all TV Shows is $2.99 (compared to US$1.99) and seasons range in price from $65.78 for 22 episodes of ‘Scrubs, Season 6′ to $15.99 for 6 episodes of ‘Sleek Geeks, Season 1′. You’ll note that you get a slight discount when buying some season packs, but not on all.

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New Google Web Measurement Tool

Google has announced that the company will be providing a new web measurement tool which will give advertisers a clearer and more accurate idea of the true size of audiences. The new tool, called Jiffy, is still under development currently. You can read more about it here.

Users of Google AdSense and AdWords have long suffered from a lack of clear and detailed information - mostly by design from the search giant to prevent too much information getting out. This sort of extra information is badly needed, because there are frequent disagreements over the way companies like Nielsen and Google calculate a website’s audience.

Google is in a good position to be able to provide a complete and overall picture, if it so chooses, through it’s existing Advertising packages or indeed through a new public interface. The new measurment tool is however rumoured to be provided only with their own services which will no doubt help them to maintain a dominant hold over online advertising.