

Less Distractions = More Pageviews. Go Figure. - cwan
http://journal.drawar.com/d/less-distractions-more-pageviews-go-figure/

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kitcar
I believe this is a case of correlation / causation mixup, as there are a
number of variables aside from the design which could be affecting PPV, for
example Location of the user - tablets and smartphones are used in different
locations than desktops for web access - for example, I only use a desktop
while working, and I only use my smartphone apps while away from my desktop
(i.e. commuting on a bus/train). I am more likely to read more articles while
commuting than working at my desk - regardless of what the website looks like.

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ordinary
This was the second thing that came to mind for me. In addition to that, it
seems reasonable to assume that people who bothered getting your app in the
first place are most likely the people who spend more time on your website.

But the first thing I thought, I thought upon reading the title. It was: "Yes,
indeed! I _do_ enjoy your site more if it isn't littered with ads and
navigation bars and lists of related articles and sidebars and comment
threads". I have written about 50 element hiding rules and Stylish scripts for
news sites that I visit regularly, just to get rid of all of the stuff that
distracts me from _reading the article I came to read_.

That's fine for geeks like me, but for everyone else, I can think of few
things that would improve the web more than a serious reduction of this kind
of clutter. I was a little disappointed in the OP that it did not talk more
about this.

~~~
e2daipi
>> _it seems reasonable to assume that people who bothered getting your app in
the first place are most likely the people who spend more time on your
website_

This is a HTML5 [web] app.

I believe that you are correct in what you posit, but it is not applicable
here.

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wccrawford
Wow. I do not get the same conclusion.

For me, if I'm browsing via my phone or tablet, I'm in a completely different
mindset than when I'm at the computer. See, the computer has a ton of things
going on, and I'm usually trying to get something done with it.

The tablet/phone, on the other hand, is purely for entertainment. If I'm using
that, I'm there to explore and browse. And that's pretty much exactly what
they're seeing on their site.

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unbehagen
Well, this is not surprising. If you put less content directly on the first
page, users have to click on links in order to view the content that is
directly accessible in the desktop version, which generates more page views.

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hirojin
The first thing I'm looking for on a news-site when I can't actually _read_
the article from all the BLINKENLIGHTS is the print button, can't find that,
or all I get is a pop-up to actually really print the article? - Either zoom
in enough to be zoom past the crap, or leave.

Don't get me wrong: I have an adblock in all my browsers: But the new, hot,
web 2.0 stuff means there's some Facebook crap loading, there's ~7 buttons to
share and ~5 buttons like the article through different social channels -- all
of which I couldn't care less if I'm interested in the actual content.

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robertleeper7
Less IS more. It's true. While users can be quite good at multi-tasking, when
it comes to reading, concentration is key to retention. And even if the eye
can "see it all" it really pays to edit what is seen, so that the user can
quickly discern what to read (scanning) and what to pass on, so that they may
quickly get through all the content they want. It's no wonder that in web
design, there is a beauty in simplicity; the challenge is to make it simple
enough to be efficient and user friendly, but not so simplistic it comes off
as mediocre or boring.

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joshfraser
My guess is that it was the change in performance that improved the # of
pageviews as the correlation between the two has been well documented at this
point.

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kwamenum86
Far from conclusive evidence here. And my intuition says something different
to me. A controlled experiment would involve showing the mobile UI on the
desktop and vice versa. You might also want to control for things like page
load time (native mobile apps are often snappier)

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LukeShu
Dammit, it should be "Fewer Distractions". Sorry, that's my peeve.

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zerostar07
Let's not neglect the "tablet on the toilet" effect

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gojomo
The Google+ notification spot is introducing a lot of distraction to the
search pages that are Google's Golden Goose... I wonder how much that's
costing them.

