8 May 2007

Website owners and designers should take heed of reports from users about pages loading slowly, according to one web hosting company.

A survey of Northern Irish Internet users commissioned by web host 1&1 Internet has revealed that slow-to-load websites represent the most irritating of online experiences, with more than half the UK population admitting to feeling a "negative emotional response".

Website loading has also been identified as a stumbling block for usability, with the average UK user spending 2.5 days a year watching the progress bar on their browser inch forward, PC Advisor reports.

Andreas Gauger, chief executive of 1&1 Internet, is quoted by Web User magazine as saying: "Our research shows that with so many options available on the Internet, consumers want information quickly."

"If a website fails to perform to their expectations it is quickly dismissed for another," he concluded.

Last month, a team of researcher from the University of Tokyo broke the Internet2 Land Speed Records in the single and multi-stream categories, achieving a data transfer rate of 7.67 gigabits-per-second.

© Adfero Ltd

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