h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Usage Habits

Which skin do you use most often? - GOO! Alabaster is too hard on my old eyes.

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2? - Daily.

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average? - 3-8 hours

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page? - Not often.

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or bookmarks list? Have you added the Front Page, your Personal Space, or any other pages? - Lots! More personal pages and friends pages than anything else.

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine? What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation? - Daily. All of the above and also to see if anything has been written about a given topic I may be interested in writing about.

~§~
§hadow

[From time to time, every man is tempted to hoist the skull and crossbones and slit a few throats.]

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
* Goo - more attractive, easier on the eyes.

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
* Daily.

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
* 1-8 hours (8 hours when I'm at work! )

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
* 2-3

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or bookmarks list? Have you added the Front Page, your Personal Space, or any other pages?
* Too many to mention! My Personal Space is in my toolbar! Front Page, Stats Page, Friend's Personal Spaces ...

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?
* A few times a week.

What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?
* Usually for something interesting to read, or a friend.

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
* Alabaster - it's far quicker to load and more practical. (I know, I'm boring)

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
* Daily, of course!

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
* half an hour, about four times a day.

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
* once a day

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or bookmarks list? Have you added the Front Page, your Personal Space, or any other pages?
* I don't bother - I put links on my user space and use that as a base for browsing h2g2. I always have one browser window open on my user space.

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?
* Not much... once a week mebbe.

What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?
* when I'm subbing and need to look for similar articles/articles to link to; or when I need info on something (actually using the guide for its purpose!)

Skin?
- GOO (Alabaster I find garish, I prefer the look, feel and design of the Goo.)

Visitation?
- Oh, easy - DAILY!

Average duration?
- 1 > 8 hours, but it depends.

Browser Bookmarks?
- My own personal Space, only. From there I go forth into the rest of H2G2.

The Search Engine?
- Oh it's another depends question! But on average, I'm going to copy Shea and say "at least a few times a week."

What for?
- In order of probable preference: 1.Something interesting to read. 2. A particular Guide Entry 3. A friend 4. An old Conversation. 5 I have a button fixation, I'll click anything.

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
Goo!!! Why do you think I'm in the Fan Club?
In alabaster the turquise colour for links is almost invisible at my screen.

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
Daily!

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
If I'm home all day I can easily spend 12 hours or more here. On working days easily 6-8 hours. I need a !

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
I *try* to remember to go there at least once every day...

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or
bookmarks list?
Lots!!! Most used: Info, Who's Online and MP150740

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine? What are you most likely
to be searching for?
I use it quite often, maybe every second day. That can be for all kinds of things, but probably most for conversations.
However, I think the old way of sorting search results was better for conversations. I normally search for something I remember was said somewhere, and it would be much easier to find, if the results was sorted only by date, instead of the way it is now, where words mentioned more than once will give the post a higher score.

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
Alabaster at uni and on netscape at home; I try to remember to use goo on internet exploder at home because ie hates alabaster and tends to crash if it sees it

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
Almost daily

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
From 10 minutes to several hours

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
About 0.6 times per session

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or
bookmarks list?
MP106694, all the feedback fora which I'm subscribed to are on my personal toolbar in netscape, a few people and a few entries

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine? What are you most likely
to be searching for?
I don't use it terribly often; usually to search for a friend, and sometimes to search for a particular topic/entry

I'm predominantly an Alabaster user, for convenience rather than aesthetics. I find it loads faster and provides quicker access to "recent conversations", which is most of my social life

I visit several times a week, and usually several times on the days when I am active. I can spend anything from a minute (if nothing interesting is happening) to a couple of hours (eg when Scouting). I don't visit the Front page nearly as often as I should - once a week, tops. I tend to come in straight to the login page, because it's fiddly to find otherwise - it would be clearer if it were a nice big button on the front page when not logged in. It would also be handy to have a "log in as a different user" button for the schizophrenics amongst us.

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
Goo. I use a laptop (its a work thing) and the contrast with Alabaster is terrible with the flat screen. Works web site is the same, which really cheers me up
How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
Week days (at work)

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
Office hours. Probably about six hours of Netscape actually being open at H2G2, with me dipping in and out as work allows

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
Once

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or bookmarks list?
Just my homepage bitty

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine? What are you most likely to be searching for?
Just if I've thought of an article and want to check it does not already exist. Occasionally for friends.

Skin:
I use Goo, I always have since I'm a creature of habit; but if I want to print something out for further reference I briefly switch to alabaster otherwise I just get the goobar.

How many times per week do you visit:
Daily

Hours per session:
To be honest I get into uni at about 9am, log on and don't log off until 5pm. If I need to leave for lectures/lunch I just lock the computer. Sometimes log on again after 7pm until the wee small hours (good thing university has a 24 hour computer suite, otherwise I'd have to get a leased line just for me.

Visits to front page per session:
once per day, except on wednesday when I visit twice (talking point, call for entries)

h2g2 pages in bookmarks:
In no particular order...
Munchkin's pub quiz
The Post
info page
The Waterworks
Peer Review conversation list

How often do you use the search engine:
Quite often, but that it is lacking is something along the lines of the Google "I'm feeling lucky" button. Sometimes I want to read an entry completely at random, pressing this would bring up five entries from the Edited Guide. I'm sure the code for doing this must be lying around someplace.

Skin - Goo because it was the only one here when I started and I got used to it. When I go to Alabaster I can't find anything I want to look at, and it's really horrible colours, and the text is smaller. I know other people say that it's quicker to load, but I don't notice a lot of difference.

I visit h2g2 every day. I wouldn't use the net nearly so often without it.
I spend on average 2 hours at least on here, either all at once or over the day. And that's an "at least".(I'm a bored housewife, it's this or eyeing up the utility men.)

I don't know how many times I visit the front page per session, because can be on and off all day sometimes, but I visit it at least once a day except weekends to see what's new. Then I go back if there's more than one thing I want to look at.
My personal space is my homepage, and I've bookmarked Smilies, the pictures and a few friends pages. I sometimes bookmark entries I want to go back and look at later, then forget to delete them. (maybe we could have something on our user page to add this sort of thing)

I posted this in another forum, but I use the My Space the most, then Who's online, then Frontpage, then preferences. I don't use the others much, although I know I should get into the habit.
I don't use the search engine much, and I usually use it to check that an entry I want to submit has not already been written by someone else. Sometimes I use it to search for entries on a particular subject.

On my user space I'd like to see add journal entry at the top of the journal, not at the bottom, and I'd lke to be able to subscribe to other people's journals. (cos I'm a nosy sort) I'd like to see the right hand column a set size rather than changing, but I mentioned that in another forum.
AS for reading conversations, I'd like to be able to bookmark them without posting. Sometimes I'm reading without posting much, and I'd like to be able to keep up with it. If I go to my last posting, sometimes I have to scroll through a few pages to get to the last bit I read, but it's not necessarily the last posting I want. Do you see what I mean? (If not I'll try again to explain) I don't like to interupt the flow by posting just to keep up.
That's about it really. For now.

I felt a bit sad saying 2 hours, but re reading this thread, everyone else uses it a lot, so a more realistic estimate it probably 4 hours, more if I'm staying in on my own in the evening.
Last summer I could easily spend 12 hours a day here. But that's because I was single, and chatting to other researchers on instant messaging software.

* Goo, I just like it. It's easier to my eyes.
* Week days.
* 1-8, depends on if I'm working or not.
* Front Page - once maybe.
* Bookmarks - several, mainly user pages, some entries that need more time to read/translate.
* Occasionally, for finding friends, topics, whatever.

Skin: Goo (much easier on the eyes)

Frequency of usage: Daily, from home.

Time per session: 1 hour (2 if I'm posting, which is rarely)

Bookmarks: None, since it was announced the URLs of all the pages were going to change anyway.

Front Page: At least once per session, no more than 3.

Search engine: Once a month, if I can be bothered Researching.

NQAH (dull as dishwater that's turned an alarming shade of grey)

Skin:
Goo
a) tradition's sake
b) easier on the eyes
c) easier to concentrate

frequency: whenever I'm online.. I'd say daily, for about two hours in total.

Front page: once or twice.

Bookmarks: http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/MP50758 (my postings page)

Search Engine: Most of the time for finding Articles.

Skin: Goo. Always. It's much more friendly to look at, alabaster makes me think I'm still in the office!
Frequency : Pretty much daily
Duration : normally somewhere between 1 and 4 hours
Front page : once or twice - but I tend to keep a window open for it
Bookmarks : front page, my space. Jumping off those for the rest.
Search Engine : 1-2 a week probably. Either to look up an article or a half-remembered conversation or a friend.

Usage Habits

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
- Alabaster. I came across it shortly after the introduction of Ripley and liked the look

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
- Daily if possible (once or twuice a day) but as little as once a month when access is restricted (eg not at uni/on placement).

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
- 6-10 hours but as much as 20

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
- During the week 5-6 times for new entries/talking points and conversations. Only once or twice at the weekend

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or bookmarks list? Have you added the Front Page, your Personal Space,
or any other pages?
- Login so I can get started straight away. For links within H2G2 I go by the conversations attached to the entry or the search engine.

Which of the buttons in the toolbar/goo do you use most? Which do you use least?
1. Who's online
2. My Space
3. Logout
4. Front Page
5. Feedback
6. Preferences
7. Help!
8. Talk
9. Read
10.Contribute

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine? What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?
- Particular guide entries, I'd use it maybe up to three or four times a session, but more ordinarily not at all (except for scavenger hunts -> every clue instead )

Skin: Alabaster. It puts all of the most important features of my homepage on the top, where they belong... buttons, forums, etc.

How often I visit: 5 days a week. My job is boring.

How long on H2G2 per session: Depends on how busy I am that day. I generally leave it logged on all day, and can spend anywhere from 10 mins to 4 hours actually using it.

Front page visits: Used to be once per day, but now that there is so little up there, and I've already run across all of the Edited entries through my job as a Scout, I check it only 1-2 times a week.

Bookmarks: My homepage, homepages of a few friends, the Post, Scout homepage

Searches: Probably not more than once a month, when checking to see if a subject I want to write about has been covered in the Edited Guide, or trying to find more information about a certain subject. Once in a great while I'll use it to find researchers or lost conversation threads.

Usage Habits

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
Alabaster - habit, legibility, ease of navigation, more information per square inch

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
Bursty - sometimes I visit daily, other times I can only log on once a week or so

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
As long as I can - two or three hours (how sad is that?)

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
Once ususally, because it is there when I log in

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or bookmarks list? Have you added the Front Page, your Personal Space, or any other pages?
I use my homepage all the time - this is so I can track conversations. If that feature was available on other pages - eg the front page - then I would visit them more often.
No bookmarks, (sorry).

Which of the buttons in the toolbar/goo do you use most? Which do you use least? Please post to this Conversation with the buttons in order of usage, putting the button you use most as number 1, and going to number 11 for the button you use least.
Are there 11 buttons - help!
My Space
Whose online
Front Page
Preferences
Talk
all the others!

Can we PLEASE have a smiley button - I dont use the smileys because I cannot remember what they all are, and I post so rapidly that I dont want to be slowed down searching for them. I love the way I can use smileys in AOL Instant Messenger...

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?
Once in a blue moon.

What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?
Another researcher.

Your Space

Do you have any suggestions for improving the appearance or functionality of the following?

Your Personal Space
Be able to hide conversations from the bottom of my personal space. They clutter up the space between my space and my journal, and I have no control over them...

Your Journal
Be able to show more than just the 5 most recent, and be able to place them in order. I have a couple of poems I want to keep high up on the listing, but they will disappear very soon.

"Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?"
Goo, because it's *much* more readable. It used to be better when there were fewer links on the left, and they weren't plonked in a straight line. I would like a really "classic" Goo skin, with the original button lineup from two years ago, including "Don't Panic!"...

"How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?"
At least daily, often every few hours. (I work in front of a computer which now has a permanent connection!)

"How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?"
Between 10 minutes and an hour, depending on what's waiting to be read and how slow the servers are...

"Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?"
About once a day on average; more if I spot more than one interesting link.

"Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites..."
Just my "User Space".

"How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?"
Every few days, usually when I'm bored.

"What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?"
These days it's almost always an old conversation I just remembered, and wanted to see if it was out of moderation yet...

"Do you have any suggestions for improving the appearance or functionality of the following?"

"Your Personal Space"
Restore photo priveleges!!!!!!!!!

"Your Journal"
Get rid of the "Click here to remove this journal entry from your space" link - instead, remove the journal from your space if you unsubscribe from it in the thread view. The "remove" text link is ugly and repetitive. In the "Recent Conversations" list, I'd be happier to have a couple more conversations shown and lose the "Unsubscribe" links - you would still be able to unsubscribe by clicking on a conversation and going to thread view, and it's not like "unsubscribe" is a major activity for anyone but the italics... In both the Journal and Recent Conversations, the "Last reply" should give the name of the researcher replying as well as the time; it's common to see many conversations interleaved on a single thread, and you may be waiting for a reply from a specific researcher.


Finally, since you use a fixed text size, how about choosing a line spacing which can accommodate the standard height of a smiley, without having ugly and uneven line spacing within smiley-enabled paragraphs?

"Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?"
Alabaster. Classic Coke was bad, and Classic Goo is bad too. No, seriously - I just started with alabaster. I like the clean, fresh appearance, and the orange and blue work well - for me. I was upset when don't panic! disappeared, though...

"How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?"
At least once a day. I find myself returning constantly to see if there've been any new replies to my posts, to see if anyone's commented on my entries, or to see if the front page has been updated yet...

"How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?"
On average? Several hours. Today I've been on for around three hours so far... and it looks like I'll be here a while longer - beats reading for Uni...

"Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?"
A couple of times. It depends what's there and what I'm looking for.

"Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites..."
The login page. But now that you mention it, I should start adding more...

"How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?"
Occasionally. Depends whether I've run out of other things to read or if I'm looking for something in particular.

"What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?"
Usually something interesting to read. Or information on a topic. Or to see if there are any unedited entries on the same topic as an edited entry I enjoyed (that's the best bit of the guide - getting various opinions...)

"Do you have any suggestions for improving the appearance or functionality of the following?"

"Your Personal Space"
Bring back the right to use images. Maybe more conversations. Putting the edited guide entries above the most recent entries. That'd probably be all. Or maybe the option of hiding journal entries and having an index-type arrangement...

"Your Journal"
See above...


Cheers, Rob.