Attached Link: Pariahland

When looking for Poser sights to visit, how important is it to you to see the hit counter and affiliations that the web site belongs too? I go to a lot of sites where the index page reads more like an advertisement for web-rings and Top Hit Counters than a CG website. I am planning a major overhaul of Pariahland and just wanted some feedback on what you look for. Do splash screens tick you off? Do you care if I am a member of the Poser Top 25 or not? Is the number of hits the site has received influence you to return or is it content only? Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Pariah.

I could care less about counters on ANY site. They seem rather self-serving to the site. AS far as ring affiliations I do use those when surfing. I've got DSL, so flash openings are fine (the first time) Simply put... I will return to a site if I enjoy the experience (imagery, design and offerings). Counters, affiliations, awards, etc. rarely enhance my visit. I will visit Steven Stahlbergs site until the web dies. I truly enjoy looking at his work and get inspired ( or depressed) by the quality of his art. That is why I visit.

Pariah, when the web first opened to commercial use, the counters were a public way of bragging, "Hey, i'm popular!" Nowadays, if anyone is serious about their web stats, they go way, way beyond counter usage if at all possible. We do about a 30-something page WebTrends report every week for the site i work on, daytimes. And then there's the search enging optimization reports... Web rings generally have some requirements about putting the ring stuff on the page that you signed up with them, but i encourage people to PLEASE don't put that crap (ahem) at the top of the page! The rafts of banners, awards, ring adverts, and other kipple that clutter up some sites is... unnattractive, to say the least. Please put them on some page other than the first, and somewhere that's not above the fold. --Nan webmaster by day Poser maniac by night

I don't care about anything but content. I like to see an artistically done site that loads fast. I am one of those who almost always choses to "skip intro" for flash screens because they are a bit slow for me on a 56k modem. But, I have designed them for others to be short and sweet. If they were all like that, I would most likely view them but people get too carried away for my taste. I don't care about webrings. To me, they are slow and cumbersome to view and make pages load slower...put them somewhere in the links page if you must. I don't care about counters. You can find out how many hits you get without having that stupid thing on your site. if your stuff is good, people will come back to visit periodically. if new stuff is never added, people will forget to visit. I do like to get updates from my fav sites if there is new content so if there is an opportunity to receive update notices (like Daz does) I will opt for those if it's a site that has nice stuff. I do not care if you are on the top 25 or not. If I see you in the gallery, free stuff or Marketplace and you have a link to your page, I will have a look most likely. I sometimes look to see if there is someone new on the top 25 but it doesn't influence me overall because I think all it means is that you have referred more people than anyone below the top 25, I am not influenced by how many people you have referred to Renderosity. hope that helps you some.

And for pity sake, avoid Flash if you can. I have a cable hookup, but I HATE waiting for the stupid flash to load. If you MUST use flash, at least give us a "skip intro" button if at all possible. Any place that doesn't let me skip the flash, only gets visited the first time, I'm not a repeat customer of those places. Kate (who likes things plain, simple and FAST)

My personal favourite hates about websites that I visit, leave quickly and avoid like the plague afterwards are those with irritating java applets that do nothing more than make text wiggle, make irritating things follow the mouse or just generally screw around with the page. Following that is music, it is incredibly annoying sitting looking at a page waiting for it to finish downloading only to be hit with some bloody irritating plinky freaking midi file that the author thinks is cool and wants to use to terrify their visitors. Then there's flash. When it's done well, it's brilliant (for instance the SLOW but beautiful preview for Dark Angel that was up for a while on the company site). The annoying thing about Flash is that it is rarely done well and can take forever to download. I've seen it used for buttons that never appear on screen regardless of how long the site is left to it's own devices because of poor scripting. Finally. MASSIVE not at all optimised or reduced images. Plain sites are fine, they're quick, they're steady, they're, erm... boring. Images are fine, but in moderation. Pages heavily laden with hundreds of images and text spread around between the images look untidy and can be confusing to navigate. Counters mean nothing to me, they are there to stroke the ego of the site owner in my opinion. I could care less whether 2 people or 2 million people have visited the site, provided it has something to hold my attention. Hit counts on the front page of sites that have half a dozen webring memberships, have stuffed themselves into a bunch of "rating" sites are totally meaningless. Great, 250,000 people have visited the site... erm, no, 250,000 hit the front page and probably moved on. There are better, more subtle ways to monitor how many people hit the site and how many dig around inside it. I very rarely use webrings, only when I'm bored and have a few hours to waste will I nose around one. I agree with nfredman in this respect. One of my sites has been a member of an RPG webring for several years. There's a text link to the ring navigation stuff on the front page, but I categorically will not stick their banner on the front page - even though I designed it, it clutters the screen, especially if there's more than one ring affiliate. Other site affiliations are fine, but they are probably best relegated to a links section. As for whether you or anyone else are in the top 25 of Poser sites... well, is it really that important? I personally could care less whether a site is top 25 or bottom of 5K provided three little criteria are met. 1:) The site is pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. 2:) Content, content, content. An empty site with 300 downloadable files and a thousand pics in the gallery is just as boring as a site with 1 download and 1 pic in the gallery. Or basically, something to keep my interest other than "New pic in the gallery, new download for you... One of the most important things on a website, in my opinion is to talk to the visitors as though they are the only person there. I enjoy sites that chat to me, where the author has more to say than. "Cool downloads" "Cool pics in the gallery" oh yeah, "Cool links" and the infamous "Sign my guestbook"... 3:) Content Oh wait, I said that already. OK, two criteria. :) In my opinion, some of the most popular sites are ones where the author spends a little time talking to the visitors, giving them something to read along with the free downloads (ubiquitous store) or gallery. It's nice sometimes to read how the author does some things, made something or where inspiration comes from for certain images. It's nice to find out a little more about the site author and this can be done through simple intro pages to sections where you "chat" to people about what's ahead. I guess it all comes down in the end, for me anyway, to the personal touch rather than the "I sell things therefore I must be corporate about it all." nonsense that strikes a few places. Oh well, you've got my opinion on this, and it is just that. MY opinion, not everyone's. :)

Things, I leave a site: - Popups :-(( - taking control of the browser status line :-((( - stars or planets or ... on my cursor :-(( - taking control of right mouseclick :-((( - long loading time (too much graphic or flash) :-(( - sounds with no possibility to switch off :-( - black text on black background :-( things I like: - Good site-navigation, ever visible and do not change :-)) - crosscompatibility browsers :-) - text is readable ( color and size ) :-)) - to know what a freebee can be used for (only free for download, free for private ... ), size of downloads :-) - sitemap :-)) - thumbs on galeries - Links to other sites open in a new window Robert

Well, when my site fell off the Top 25 I pulled the link ;-) I also never got around to redoing the Renderosity web ring either, when that was changed. And I just noticed, I've got a button for Zygote, gee, I guess it should go to DAZ's store, as that is where my stuff really is - Wow, it is hard keeping up! But I agree with a couple of comments above, no Java, no Flash! The counter on my page is really for my information.

Cool that someone takes the time to ask also such questions. 1. Counters doesn't interest me in general. They're unneccessary and not really usefull because they can be started at the number the user wants. 2. I hate flash. Most of it where only gimmicks. 3. I also don't like what you suggested, frontpages which where plasterd with banners. 4. Poser Top25 doesn't interest me, because i will allways make my own meaning. What i like for 3D related sites: 1. A 3D related layout of th hole site 2. Flash used as naviagtion help, like on the site from Rob Wisenant. May check the link: http://www.rbtwhiz.com/ 3. A frontpage where in short time can be seen what's in the site All of this is just my opinion. About this theme there's a great book called "Web Navigation" written by Jennifer Fleming. Sh shows each aspect how a surfer can be hold on the site. In general it explains how to create a user-friendly content on the site. And good luck with building you new site. SHARKEY

Good content is all you need. Fancy stuff, flash, java is just a curse. Ignore it.

Attached Link: http://www.3dposer.com

For my site, I prefer simplicity :o)

Attached Link: http://www.pariahland.com

I've updated the site quite a lot. If you feel like it, you can check out the changes at the supplied link.