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

Skin: Goo. Much more pleasing to the eye, and a compleetely different look to all other sites!

Visiting times: Daily.

Length of stay: 1-3 hours, but I may come back for more later. Depends on what lectures I have...

Front Page: a couple of times, usually to look at the talking point/topic for the week.

Bookmarks: My page, paperless paperchase, front page. Most other links are on my space.

Search engine: Mostly used when trying to solve a paperchase clue. Or set a clue, for that matter...

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
* Goo
- more attractive,
- Easier on the eyes
- supports the fish better

Used alabaster for a while, it loads quickly, but that doesn't really bother me. It has conversations top of my space. But very harsh on my eyes, too corporate for the real guide

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
* Daily (work days only though)

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
* <8 hours on and off, I'm on first thing in the morning then I check in every hour or so.

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
* every other 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?
* none yet (apart from login) Though I'm planning to add a new folder with friends, picture library, smileys, info, reference stuff basically)

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

What are you most likely to be searching for?
* Usually for something interesting to read, or an old conversation

Mel

"Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?"
Alabaster. It just looks more efficient.

"How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?"
At least once a day.

"How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?"
About 40 minutes I'd say. But it really is difficult to say because it varies considerably - if there are no replies to my posts then I'll probably spend about 5 or 10 minutes on h2g2. But at the other end of the spectrum it can be over an hour.

"Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?"
3-5. Usually I look at a new entry and end up clicking through a load of links to personal spaces and other entries that sound interesting before realizing that I had intended to look at the other new entries.

"Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites..."
Ask H2G2, the Peer Review and the Smiley page. Now that you mention it, I've been meaning to suggest that these crucial help pages be given a link on the front page.

"How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?"
On average, about once every session.

"What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?"
I'm most likely to be searching random topics/words that occur to me in a moment of boredom. I very rarely search for something specific. Also, and this is very sad, I sometimes search using key words in my own entries to see how high they appear on the list.

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

"Your Personal Space"
A facility to order guide entries by different criteria, such as alphabetically, would be most welcome. How about seperate lists for your own edited entries and the community ones you've contributed to?
Oh, I've got another one! A facility to alter the number of conversations/guide entries displayed down the left hand side.

skin - goo. i just like goo. blue is one of my favorite colors, and the goo graphics on the left side & top are neat.

how often do i visit - daily during the week, occasionally on weekends. (well, i have to pay attention to my family sometime or they'll think i don't like them.)

how long am i here - depends on what day it is & what project i'm on at work. anywhere from 3 to 12 hours, but a lot of that is sandbagging.

how often do i go to the front page - once a day or so.

bookmarks - i do not have any pages bookmarked. my home page at work is customizable, so i have a link to the front page. after i log in i have links on my user space for everything else.

search engine - average once a day, usually to find something on a specific subject, or a specific article.

Which skin do you use most often? GOO... easier on my young eyes, reminds me of ancient days when h2g2 was just getting started, and come on-- it's GOO!!

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2? Daily. Unless I'm on vacation or extremely busy.

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average? Anywhere from five minutes to hours and hours.

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page? About once, sometimes more depending on what I'm doing or if I'm looking for something in particular.

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? My page, the pages of my RL friends, and the front page. Everything else has a link on my page.

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? Not very often... mostly I just check forums and that takes hours to begin with. But when I do use it, I'm usually looking for a friend or a specific thing (like one time I needed home cold cures).

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?

Goo, all the way! Alabaster, which I only see when I'm reading at uni, doesn't do it for me...how hard is it to scroll down a page, really?

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

Twice a day.

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?

Per session, average 4-5 hours, not always continuously.

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

Per session, 0.5 (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?

Until recently I haven't tended to use bookmarks much anyway...I have my Personal Space bookmarked, everything else is either in the NavBar drop down or easily linked to from my page/conversations.

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?

Generally once a week or so...either just randomly looking for a subject or particularly looking to see if the entry I intend to write when I get around to it has already been done by somebody else...

Your Space

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

Your Personal Space

Button link to the info page, more of a general configurable nature (frame size, text/link colours, etc.) get rid of the banner (noone looks at it, no ads anymore anyway)

Your Journal

Ability to prioritise order, rahter than necessarily based on when posted.

The Conversation section on your Space?

Ability to customise number of conversations shown, automatic refreshing when a new reply is posted (not necessarily on the Personal space, but possibly in the MP page - it can't be any more load on the servers than refreshing the page every couple of minutes anyway)

The Guide Entry sections on your Space? A way to differentiate between 'factual' entries and 'community' entries.

When you're reading Conversations is there anything you think could be improved in terms of design or functionality?

See above as regards replies to your own posts, but otherwise I think the forums are well deigned (other than the 20-post block, which it would seem can't really be overcome without a major redesign of the structure). Also, the ability to download conversations in their entirity would be good.

Which skin?
Goo

How often do you visit?
Everyday, more than once, usually before I leave the house and then when I get back.

How long do you stay?
It depends on how many conversations I'm replying too, but usually 30 mins is a minimum and 2 hours a maximum.

How many times do you visit the front page per session?
Once so that I can see which entries have been added, and check if there are any important announcements.

What's on the favs. list?
My browser's start page is my user space, this allows me to check if any edited entries have been added to the guide and also see the state of my conversations. The only bookmark I have is to the newuser page.

Search Engine
I use it quite often to check
for links for entries I'm editing.

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
* Goo, for browsing. Looks better, easier to read. If I want to print out a document, I'll use Alabaster since I don't want to use all the blue ink in my printer.

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

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
* 45 minutes to 3 hours.

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
* 5-9

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?
* Just my personal space.

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?
* Monthly or so.

What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to read? A friend? An old Conversation?
* Usually just something weird. I'd like to see "Guide Roulette"- click a button, go to a random entry. There would be two types of Guide Roulette- Anything, where you can end up anywhere on the Guide, or Edit Roulette, only edited pages.

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
*Alabaster! It looks better than Goo, more professional. It also seems better organized.

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

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
* 1-2 hours

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
* 3 - 4 times

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?
* None.

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?
* Once a week.

What are you most likely to be searching for? A particular Guide Entry? Something interesting to
read? A friend? An old Conversation?
* I generally look for something interesting to read.

Q~ Which skin do you use most often?
A~ Goo, 'cause the Alabaster scared me the first time I came to the site!

Q~ How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
A~ Usually a few times a day, at least once a day.

Q~ How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
A~ Depends on if there's something interesting to read listed on the front page, or how many conversations I have to reply in, or what I want to do that day. Anywhere from 15 minutes, to many hours....

Q~ Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
A~ It's my launch point, I start there, then if nothing catches my eye, I hop on over to my space.

Q~ 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?
A~ I have the front page on my tool bar, and then a couple of GuideML and smiley refference pages in a folder for h2g2 stuff only, as well as a personal page or three...

Q~ 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?
A~ Sporatically at best... if I have some time to kill, or I'm curious about something, I'll use the search, but otherwise, I'm usually talking in a conversation, or wandering randomly. best way to go I think....

Saturn Girl

While I don't usually answer such personal questions, I'll make a special exception in this case.

* Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?

Goo! I used to use Alabaster for a while when it first appeared because it was new, but I soon reverted to the Goo because it looks so nice and is much gentler on the retiners.

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

Thrice daily, on average.

* How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?

It varies. 30 min usually, sometimes an hour if I'm doing something important, or trying to error check my GuideML tags.

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

Once. Ish.

* 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?

Personal Space, Front Page, Peer Review, Smiley, and a subsection of Researcher's Pages for quick access!

* 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?

I use it a few times a week. Sometimes it's for a Friend, sometimes it's a specific topic I want to talk about or want to know other peep's opinions on (in Forums and Entries).

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?
I USE GOO, SINCE IT'S EASIER ON MY EYES.

How many times a week/month do you visit h2g2?
I VISIT DAILY, JUST TO SEE WHAT'S BEING TALKED ABOUT.

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?
I HATE TO ADMIT IT, BUT ANYWHERE FROM 1 TO 3 HOURS, (OR MORE!) REALLY I LOOK FORWARD TO THE VISIT!

Per session, how many times do you visit the Front Page?
MAYBE 3 TO 5 TIMES. DEPENDS HOW MANY OTHER AREAS/ENTRIES I MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN. ALWAYS START OUT THERE. IT'S THE FRONT DOOR, AFTER ALL.

Which page(s) on h2g2, if any, have you added to your favourites or bookmarks list? THE "HOME" PAGE, "MY SPACE", THE "ASK THE H2G2 COMMUNITY" PAGE. AND FOR SOME REASON I CAN'T RECALL, THE "NEW SMILEYS" PAGE!

Which of the buttons in the toolbar/goo do you use most? THAT'S RIGHT, MAKE ME THINK! UM, I USE THE "HOME" BUTTON, THE "MY SPACE" BUTTON, OCCASIONALLY THE "PREFERENCES" BUTTON, OCCASIONALLY THE "WHO'S ONLINE" BUTTON, THE REST, ALMOST NEVER. THINK I'LL GO POKE ABOUT AT THEM RIGHT AFTER THIS, BEFORE THEY'RE GONE!

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine? I USE THE SEARCH BUTTON DAILY, USUALLY TO TRACK A TOPIC, OR TO SEE WHAT ELSE SOMEONE SAID ON A PARTICULAR TOPIC, OR WHAT THEY THINK ON A DIFFERENT TOPIC.

Do you have any suggestions for improving the appearance or functionality of the following?
Your Personal Space I HAVEN'T USED MY SPACE AS MUCH AS I SHOULD; STILL WORKING UP THE COURAGE TO SUBMIT AN ENTRY. I DO USE IT TO TRACK THREADS I'VE SUBSCRIBED/POSTED TO.

Your Journal STILL WORKING ON THE COURAGE THING. IT FEELS A LITTLE SELF-INDULGENT, SOMEHOW. (AND I AM NOT PARTICULARLY BRAVE)

The Conversation section on your Space? SINCE ONLY ONE PERSON HAS EVER POSTED ANYTHING TO ME, IT'S MOOT. OF COURSE, I'VE ONLY POSTED TO THE PAGES OF ONE OR TWO OTHERS MYSELF, SO TURNABOUT AND ALL THAT.

The Guide Entry sections on your Space? SEE THE ENTRY ON "COURAGE" ABOVE! HOWEVER, I WAS PLEASED TO SEE A SMALL BIT OF ONE OF MY POSTINGS MAKE IT INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S GUIDE ENTRY.

Conversations I FOLLOW THE ASK THE COMMUNITY PAGE, IS THAT WHAT YOU MEAN? AND I DO POST FAIRLY FREQUENTLY (SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK).

When you're reading Conversations is there anything you think could be improved in terms of design or functionality? YES! A LESS ABRUPT TRANSITION TO THE NEXT GROUP OF 20, PLEASE. YOU COULD ALSO DO SOMETHING WITH THE SEARCH ENGINE, OR HAVE A TOPIC ALPHA LISTING (OR SOMETHING A LITTLE LESS CUMBERSOME).

Any Other Comments?
IN ANSWERING YOUR SURVEY, IT OCCURS THAT I HAVEN'T BEEN AS ACTIVE A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY AS I WANT TO BE. I HAVE A BUSY TIME AHEAD!
AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR NOT GOING AWAY AFTER ALL!
SERIOUSLY, AS AN AMERICAN I FEEL YOUR SITE HAS REALLY OPENED MY EYES (AND MY HORIZONS) ON HOW AMERICANS ARE SEEN OUTSIDE THE U.S., AND HOW THE REST OF THE WORLD SEES ITSELF. WE DON'T ALWAYS GET THE WHOLE PICTURE HERE. BUT YOU ALSO DON'T SEE US AS COMPLETELY AS YOU THINK, EITHER. VERY EDUCATIONAL, ALL AROUND.

SC

Which skin do you use most often, Goo or Alabaster, and why?

Alabaster. I have an old PC and a slow modem, so the faster loading is the deciding factor.

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

More or less daily, unless I'm too tied up in work.

How long do you spend on h2g2 per session, on average?

On average, I've no idea. It's generally either about 10 minutes or half an hour to an hour. There's been a couple of lost weekends over the past year, though.

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

Not often. Maybe every second or third session.

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?

Front Page, my space, Ask h2g2, stats page, the haiku challenge, the donut stall, plus any number of places that I used to visit regularly when they were more active, like the vegetarian society.

How often do you use the h2g2 search engine?

Maybe weekly.

What are you most likely to be searching for?

Usually I'm looking for a recent conversation about a particular topic.

Lux

Skin: Goo. because alabasters boring

Visiting times: depends on cloage and work and stuff

Length of stay: as above

Front Page: 1ce week

Bookmarks: I link them on my space (usually in coverstaions).

Search engine: I have nly ever used it once when I was looking to see if someone had alreddy written what I was writing about for an entry

I always use Goo - Alabaster is just too much like every other web site!
I visit h2g2 daily for 1-4 hours depending on what catches my eye.
I only go to the front page once per visit.
Only bookmarked My Space so I can check any replies to forum postings etc as soon as I go to h2g2.
Buttons; 1. My Space 2. Who's Online Don't use any of the rest
Use the search engine to find friends occasionally - approx once a week.

I would be really grateful if you could introduce some way of navigating a forum so that I could find the last entry that I have read easily so that I can continue from there and not have to search around for it.