First impressions count!

A piece on the BBC reveals that people often make judgments about a site in an instant just by looking at it.

Internet users make up their minds about the quality of a website in the blink of an eye, a study shows. Researchers found that the brain makes decisions in just a twentieth of a second of viewing a webpage. They were surprised as they believed it would take at least 10 times longer to form an opinion. The study, published in the journal Behaviour and Information Technology, also suggests that first impressions have a lasting impact.

This adds to what I believe is one of the key constituents of a successful Web 2.0 project. I've written before that I think that a good start-up should focus on both usability and design (the arty type) so that users feel as comfortable as possible when trying out the new service/software/application. Don't forget that the person who has come up with the idea and has written the code is taking care of the functionality, but since users often use little of the powerful features of an application unless presented with a simple yet effective interface it is of paramount importance for a new company to focus on getting the powerful functionality in front of the user as simply as possible.

It is the very same reason why people who perhaps only a few years back would have laughed at the idea of having blogs and pontificating about their daily stresses and strains, but now contribute daily to what we call the blogosphere each day pouring their thoughts into Battelle's fictitious "Database of Intentions" ("The Search" by John Battelle).

For me Google was the fastest search engine and the most simple (without all the banner ads and flashing monkeys) and for this reason alone I started using Google over AlltheWeb.com. This was back in the day when we had a very slow connection. I think users at the end of the day want things done within two-three clicks without a complicated interface that requires them to learn anything.