As Internet connectivity continues to become more readily available, lower priced, and more accessible, think wireless and mobile device, Internet users expectations have grown.
Pingdom provides their insight based from results in a 2009 survey sponsored by Akamai, compared to a similar study that they did in 2006:
Internet users expect web pages to load twice as fast in 2009 as they did in 2006. User expectations have changed significantly in just three years.
Here are some of the findings from the study:
- 47% expect a web page to load in two seconds or less.
- 40% will abandon a web page if it takes more than three seconds to load.
- 52% of online shoppers claim that quick page loads are important for their loyalty to a site.
- 14% will start shopping at a different site if page loads are slow, 23% will stop shopping or even walk away from their computer.
- 64% of shoppers who are dissatisfied with their site visit will go somewhere else to shop next time.
Although this study focused on ecommerce sites, the findings should be relevant to any site owner regardless of the type of site since the results clearly show how big an effect slow load times can have on user behavior.
In the old study from 2006, people got restless if an ecommerce site took more than four seconds to load. In the 2009 study, people got restless if an ecommerce site took more than two seconds to load
More Insight
This is useful information and leaves room to ponder best practice ways and perhaps even innovative ways to architect higher performing web sites and apps. Sometimes it can be as simple as tweaking the performance of a server, leveraging the power and scalability of cloud computing, or even as complex as modifying the back end code of a web application to respond better. Either way, the benefit of meeting the demands, which can often equate to needs, is an important part of an organizations perception by customer, client and competitors.
(Photo credit: piccadillywilson)
Technology•
on September 2nd, 2009•
Today marks the 40th Birthday of the Internet. On September 2, 1969, two computers successfully passed data through a 15-foot gray cable in a lab at the University of California. By the end of that year three other universities, Stanford Research Institute, UC Santa Barbara and the University of Utah, had joined the ARPANET network and the Internet, albeit in its early form, was born.
With the progress made so far, everyone is eager to see, and be a part of, what the next generation of communication and computing will be like.
Click to watch a 3 minute video made by National Geographic on a brief history of the Internets history and future
Technology•
on March 2nd, 2009•
Q: Why was the goldfish afraid of the computer?
A: He didn’t want to get caught in the Internet.
Silly joke, but it made me smile.
Are You Afraid?
Are you afraid of the Internet? Perhaps this question would have been better asked in the 1990s when the Internet was starting to make its boom. This question still has merit today due to the risks often heard about in the media regarding data theft, identity fraud, and malware. read more
Technology•
on February 8th, 2009•
Here is another one of those great “corporate features” from OpenDNS, that they will begin offering on Monday, February 9th. Dan Goodin, an author at The Register, wrote about OpenDNS rolling out a new feature to block and track Conficker traffic. While I haven’t been involved with any Conficker issues on any of the networks that I manage or consult for, it certainly is nice to have the option to be another step ahead, and proactive, just by using OpenDNS. read more
Technology•
on February 4th, 2009•
Google Calendar offline access enable button
Upon logging in to a Google Apps accounts earlier, I could see that Google is beginning to offer Google Calendar offline access, apparently read-only access when there is no Internet connection, by utilizing Gears, an open source project that adds features to your browser. After enabling it, everything seems to be working so far. Google also recently added offline functionality for Gmail, based off user feedback and technology needs and trends.
As seen in their support documentation, “Calendar keeps you on time, even when you’re not online. Offline Calendar allows you to access your events through your browser without requiring Internet access. It’s perfect for flaky connections or for when you’re in between meetings and have no idea where you’re supposed to be next.”
At a time when speculation over whether or not it is healthy to allow your data to be intertwined in a large companies cloud which you don’t have any control over, new features like Gmail and Google Calendar offline access make it harder to resist, and easier to stay comfortable where you are at.
Brief How-to
To enable it for your Google Calendar, after you log in click the Offline(Beta) link.
Google Calendar offline access beta link
The final end result will allow you to pick which calendars you would like available offline, in the Calendar Settings.
Google Calendar offline access settings
Technology•
on November 30th, 2008•
“For most of human history, people have lived in small tribes where everything they did was known by everyone they knew,” Dr. Malone said. “In some sense we’re becoming a global village. Privacy may turn out to have become an anomaly.”
(Quote from New York Times article, You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?)
Turns out folks that online privacy may turn out to be (or is) viewed as an anomaly. Reading the NY Times article reminds me of a podcast on the topic featuring Eben Moglen speaking on “Freedom Businesses Protect Privacy” at the O’Reilly Media MySQL Conference in 2007. You can listen to the original podcast, published by IT Conversations, here. (Alternatively you can download the original podcast in MP3 format here)
