This is a web page(justinjackson.ca)

almost 10 years ago from Justin Jackson, Maker

  • Justin JacksonJustin Jackson, almost 10 years ago (edited almost 10 years ago )

    It's really interesting to see the difference between the conversation here on DN, the conversation on Hacker News, and the conversation on Twitter.

    The thread on HN has been #1 for the past 5 hours. It's generated a lot of great discussion; much of it constructive.

    So far on Twitter today I've had 376 people @reply me; almost all positive. In the past 5 hours I've gained 265 new followers (a 17% growth rate).

    I also had some prominent people in the community that liked it and shared it: Zeldman, Jason Fried, A List Apart, Ryan Holmes, etc...

    In terms of the "effectiveness of design": - So far, the page has had 48,000 unique visitors - The average time spent on page is 2:43 minutes (very good for page that length) - The page weight is only 4KB. Average time to load the page is 0.79 seconds - That little link at the bottom to my mailing list converted very well, and has grown my mailing list by over 300% so far today

    How do you guys feel about the quality of the discussion here on DN?

    4 points
    • Connor Tomas O'BrienConnor Tomas O'Brien, almost 10 years ago

      I'm actually ashamed of the way the discussion has progressed here. I'm a writer as well as a designer. It strikes me that much of the sentiment here has been defensive: "But you need the bells and whistles because otherwise people can't and won't engage with your content!"

      I found it far easier to engage deeply with your content than I have with sites that employ parallax scrolling and complex visual trickery to tell a story. Does that mean I don't think those flashy sites have a place? I think they do. But I can only speak from my experience, as a reader and a user, and my experience is that I appreciate being able to engage with content deeply instead of having shiny toys thrown at me every so often to prevent me from clicking away.

      It's not either-or, of course, and I don't think you're suggesting that every site on the internet needs to exist as black Times New Roman on a white background. There's no standard template for how to "correctly" communicate. We all enjoy a good spectacle every one in a while. But sometimes, we can also appreciate a compelling string of words on a plain page. I think that's all you're arguing, and I'm totally behind that.

      5 points
    • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, almost 10 years ago

      i can't speak for anyone else, but as a web designer, there was nothing in your post that i haven't heard already. an overly verbose and pretentious rehash of the old adage "content is king."

      and that core message has nothing to do with your book.

      your book does seem interesting though.

      1 point
    • Martin BavioMartin Bavio, almost 10 years ago

      Great numbers you have there! I would also like to take a look at the numbers of your B version, where you actually do some design. I'm sure you are familiar with the concept of A/B testing, right?

      I have to say, I really like what you wrote. But to come here and declare it a big hit, just with numbers and nothing to compare, makes me think that you were only looking for hype.

      Have a great day.

      1 point