Graphics, Visualization, and Usability Center
Usage Comments
Comment 0: Much of this usage is as an archive
builder and as the administrator charged
with bringing W3 browsers, editors, and
servers to Chico State University.
Comment 1: My UPC field is blank!
Comment 2: I do not believe that users should be
relied upon to give accurate estimates of
these quantities, I regret that I place
no confidence in your survey.
Also scrolling the window is *really* slow
in Mosaic, did you *test* this questionairre
first? Some of the questions are
ambiguous I think. You should always
beta test your surveys. Best wishes
Comment 3: Don't like too many images /sounds etc on
primary page. Takes too long to load on
slow nets. Better with thumbnail/icons and
load if needed.
Comment 4: Given the limited experience I have
with some of the media you mention it's
difficult to assess how I would value
them -- my judgement is very much formed
by experiences
Comment 5: Question 2 has no option "use WWW as a
system interaction tool". I definitely
want user interfaces with WWW front ends
for e.g system management, user support.
Comment 6: Experience so far indicates that while the
Web is a great tool, many of the existing
pages need more thought put into their
design, to make them easier to read and follow.
(For example, on finishing this survey page
I would expect a link to the next survey page;
instead I have to go back to the main page.)
Comment 7: >Retrieve Documents from Archives using your WWW Browser
> (i.e. instead of using archie, gopher, ftp, &/or wais)
I use mosaic to access gopher and wais but not for archie
and ftp as mosaic has good support for the
first two but the specialised clients are better for the
second pair.
Also, this window is too small.
Comment 8: Loving or hating a media is a strange idea to me. I'm interested more in the information content than it's presentation for the most part.
Comment 9: question 3 is unclear -- you mean "how often
do you use the WWW as opposed to other
media"?
Comment 10: One of the nicest things I've found on
the WWW lately is O'Reilly's GNN page.
Also the increasing number of museums,
etc., that are on the WWW are very nice.
Comment 11: publish the results on the web..
Comment 12: numbered Radio button are unhelpful for
indicating preference. Either name them
or let us type in a percentage.
why is "1" never? (why not "0")
also is each set independnet or a proportion
of the last (Re: part 3)
... finding what you are looking for?!
Comment 13: Q1: I use WWW constantly during the day...
Q4: Hard to disregard the technical stuff
Comment 14: I like dvi-files more than postscript, because they are
looking better on a screen, and they are A LOT smaller,
which makes them quicker to retrieve.
Maybe that could me a de facto-standard for not-plain-text-
reports?
Comment 15: I often explore URLs found in
comp.infosystems.www
Comment 16: I use a browser about once a day - all day
long. We use it for coordinating a project,
as well as publishing info about our site.
Comment 17: I selected ~search oriented~ above, but
I regard *searching* as one access
methodology, and *browsing* as the other.
You didn't have browsing as an option at
all, and I wasn't sure what you meant by
"Text" and "Visual" as opposed to "Search".
Comment 18: I have no sound or movie viewing capabilities on my computer, though movies could be interesting.
Comment 19: I support Internet services both for the
University of Costa Rica and the National
Network Association of Costa Rica
Comment 20: 1 to 4 times a day doesn't indicate
the length of time of each session.
Also note that you misspelled images in
question 5.
Comment 21: I put down hate for movies and sound since I don't have a browser for these.
Comment 22: i don't like your classification into
keyword/text/visual. it just depends
on the info.
Comment 23: If we ever devolop the band width then sound
and then movies will become useful
Today they are a pain.
Comment 24: I'd stop using the wais client if mosaic
allowed queries to more than one src at
a time
Comment 25: love it.
an offrmap to the superhwy
right here at my desk!
Comment 26: "Would you classify yourself as a search, text, or visually orientated user?" I didn't feel that the answers vailable described my preference. I'm happy with all.
Comment 27: I "love" to retrieve things that are interesting
Text that are laid out well with images, etc
are also nice.
Comment 28: Prefered media type depend on content.
Question is really unaswerable as stated.
If the last question had applied to
_all_ the activities you listed, the
answer would have been different. It
is easy to read it as `how many hours
do you use in your www browser'.
Comment 29: I filled out this form using the Lynx client
Comment 30: Still bad scrolling.
Comment 31: I almost never use WWW to browser ftp
sites, ncftp is much more useful for that
I do fetch inidividual files, when referenced
from some html doccument. Almost all
tech reports I fetch that way.
I don't have sound capability
My link is low speed, so images are usually
too expensive for their worth. But small
ones are nice for livening up home pages.
Comment 32: Browsing the Web has been my biggest
distraction over the past 4-5 months.
It's great, but I never get anything done!
Comment 33: I'm on a 56Kbit line: more bandwidth please!
Comment 34: I used to go Net Surfing (exploring)
several hours a day. I have reduced
that somewhat recently. I now am looking
for more specific things when I explore.
Comment 35: It's easy to be neutral about things that just show up as [IMG] in lynx. What I hate is documnet authors who assume everyone uses Mosaic.
Comment 36: Regarding the Weather question, the 0 value
I've put is mainly because there is very few
weather informations for Europe on the
internet.
Comment 37: The main reason why I rated inlined
so low is because of the time needed to
download them.
People responsible for designing WWW
documents should consider that not all
of their readers are located in North
America.
I greatly appreciate the mosaic features
that allow you to choose whether to
get inlined images.
Comment 38: Question 4 was difficult to answer. It is
difficult to answer without regarding technical
aspect like e.g. the time to transfer a image
or movie.
It also depends on the type of information
I am looking for. A good map or image
cannot be describe on many page. So if
the information is of that type I prefer
images (give it 10 points).
On the other hand there are often pages with
lots of unnecessary images and icons. It
is very annoying to wait minutes for
this.
Comment 39: Missing with some questions a field giving the
opportunity to say: Never saw this, still
exploring ....
The time aspect is also different, if I am new
I spend hours and hours... But later we will see..
Comment 40: I can't listen to the sounds, because it is not supported on my workstation
Comment 41: I suspect I'll use WWW lots more in the future though, now that it is expanding a lot (especially locally)
Comment 42: As far as I am concerned Visually represented information
is much more `accessible' than text - however it requires
considerably more bandwidth and can be frustrating on
slow networks. It's therefore important for information
providers to supply both textual and visual information.
Comment 43: The level of maturity of WWW use precludes
answer to many of these questions. Do
you see WWW as a source of information or
as a mediator of other information? That
is where I think that it will really develope.
Comment 44: I wish *all* WWW clients could access
integrated sound+vision :-).
Comment 45: My current usage is much higher than
average since I am exploring new ways
of making information available locally,
as well as learning the technologies
involved (HTML, etc)
Comment 46: ---
Comment 47: Saying "disregarding network bandwith and technical issues" about inlined images is avoiding the issue.
I'm on a slow network connection, and have images turned off, becuase I can't afford
the bandwith to view them.
Oh, and how does one get word-wrap working in the form field?
Comment 48: At this point in time this survey will
slanted toward those users who have access
to xwindow because PC and Mac versions
do not have forms capability. I know several
heavy users of WWW who only have access
to Macintoshs.
Comment 49: Would like to see more uniformity in
search procedures. More documents available
online or ftp-able.
Comment 50: The wording on someof the questions could
do with improving. Particularly question 3
Comment 51: Text is more important than images, since not
all WWW browsers can view inlined images.
For examples, I use "lynx" as the WWW
browser from time to time when I connect
to the machines where WWW clients reside
using a modem from my home PC or Mac.
In this case, VT100 window is the only
choice.
Comment 52: 1. No ability to play sounds, so that question is really not applicable.
2. There is an inherient problem in searching keywords in a database: knowing what the keywords are!
You never really know if a keyword is appropriate. I think database providers ought to provide a
keyword list, even if it's just alphabetical.
3.
Comment 53: It would have been nice to have fewer
than 9 levels of preference to choose
from. It's somewhat unclear what the
differences between 2 3 and 4 or 6 7 and
8 are. I would suggest 5 levels.
Comment 54: Question 5 is confusing/misleading because
I would prefer a well-organized textual
information source over a badly organized
visual information hierarchy.
It all relies on non-tangible qualities
of "goodness in UI design" for these
forms.
Comment 55: When you say 'WWW browser instead of gopher browser' and such, I assumed you meant the frequency I used Mosaic to browse gopherspace, as opposed to the amount of time I used Mosaic compared to the amount of time I used other browsers for gopherspace.
For example, I never use any other gopher clients to browse gopherspace... so do I always use WWw browser instead of the gopher browser? I decided that wasn't what you meant, and answered the question to mean how often I browed gopherspace.
Comment 56: Would you publish your survey results.
Comment 57: I am a university press publisher and
have a vested interest in using the WWW
for publishing our catalogues and
journals in this environment.
Comment 58: The orientation question is completely
dependent on what I'm trying to do. If
I'm working, I'm text oriented, with
keyword searches nice if they are powerful
enough to do the job (but WAIS often isn't),
while if I'm browsing for entertainment
I'm more visually oriented.
Comment 59: Searches would be better if there were
more feedback as to how the search was
implemented (i.e. regexp, keyword), and
why the search failed. Sometimes a
search box shows up in the document and
it doesn't explain what you're supposed
to search for. GNN is a good example of
this.
Comment 60: Inlined images on home pages are irritating
A fast downloading home page, followed
by graphics on other pages is better.
Comment 61: Q5: To explore the Internet or any other
large resource, one must use a combo of
search and browse methods to be effective.
So most people are not totally in one
camp or another I would think.
Comment 62: Ratings of 1 in the movies and sound
questions reflect that they cannot
be accessed on my platform rather
than an objection to the medium.
Comment 63: I Dont have sound capabilities yet!!
Comment 64: On Question 3, my answers may be misleading
as I can only use WWW tools to access
gophers outside my firewall.
Comment 65: I'd probebly use Xmosaic much more if it
was less buggy, e.g. right now I'm typing
with one hand and press the middle button
on the mouse with the other hand to get
input focus, or having "external viewers"
not running most of the time.
Comment 66: It is difficult to indicate a preference
in abstracting access time etc! Because
what I do everyday is conditioned by it
- and by what is available! Available
on the Net but also in my office:
X-terminal without sound, fine for nice
color graphics, but ethernet bandwith too
low for movies... Fine hp LaserJet 4M
B/W printer but no color...etc
Therefore I do not feel that you should
not take this section of the survey very
seriously...
Comment 67: There is a growing trend to "simplify"
databases by making them appear as
Search Word:__________ only. This is
more confusing that helpful. There needs
to be an intermediate level where the
search will give you a gopher-like
tree of information.
Comment 68: Most of my dislike of non-embedded media is that
my x terminal (A PC running PC-XView)
doesn't support sounds or movies well.
Comment 69: sound and movies do not work for me
I use all search/browse techniques
Comment 70: Uh, first of all, that should be visually oriented user
(there's no such thing as orientated). Now that that's
off my chest, so to speak, I can't classify myself as
any of those three. I don't see the difference between
keyword search and text, and I can't see how they compete
with visual things (really, one picture is NOT worth a
thousand words). On the other hand, visual things are
nice also. I guess that I'm really a textually oriented
keyword user that likes visual aids.
Comment 71: The main problem with graphics
and movies and sound is the latency
that can happen, and sometimes
compatability problems...
Comment 72: wais searches frequently don't work from
MOSAIC (2.0, 20/1/94)
videos are too large to be downloaded
(slow, bad for the net)
sounds are normally unnecessary
external images require extra programs
(not normally installed)
Text is find provided it is in html
format and is therefore formatted
correctly for the current window size
Comment 73: For question 5 I really use all features... I read text quite a bit,
I appreciate inlined images and searches are quite handy when they apply.
That is the cool thing about this is the ability to
use the right media at the right time.
Comment 74: I would explore more if I had easier access to a machine directly on the net rather than through a dial-up.
Comment 75: I actually prefer both text and graphics (which your survey did not have as a choice)
I think inlines are fine, but would prefer a more efficient method of
transfering them (instead of grabbing them one at a time)
Comment 76: Great - love it I guess WWW is a real breakthrough.
Comment 77: Instead of "love/hate" continuum in Q4,
how about "want more/less" of same. Also,
my response in section 4 was dependent on
my connection bandwidth and the fact that
some people abuse the pages they put up
by using lots of high density data (e.g.
images) which really slow down a transfer
(Although delay image loading option does
help theoretically, I've never used it.)
Comment 78: why no questions about hypertext? I
especially like being able to read a
paragraph, then click on a certain topic
to get more info
Comment 79: no one answer to the serch question is
satisfactory. I use all three modes
as appropriate: keyword, text and
visual.
Comment 80: your comments
Comment 81: The page one gets after submitting this
form should have a pointer to the page
with the other forms.
Comment 82: There is a hell of a lot of info on the
web. I find that I look at the "What is
New Page" and other buffers to the onslaught
of data to do focus my exploring.
(in otherword I think they are very useful)
Comment 83: This form was unbearable to use due to poor scroll updates.
Comment 84: The last answer is deceptive: 2/3rds of
my classes require using the web and/or
Mosaic (I am a student).
Comment 85: I would like to see _more_ publishers and booksellers on the Web, as I have had some difficulty finding them as yet.
Comment 86: We at CMU are starting to add things
to our Web that were hitherto
distributed on paper. Using the
Web (via Mosaic) to access local
materials will soon be as important
as using netnews to read local
bboards
Comment 87: Tremendous facility - makes Internet
much more accessible. However, I'm still
new to it - interesting to see if my
enthusiasm keeps up. I thought news was
pretty amazing when I first discovered that.
Comment 88: I am a biologist. Started off with WAIS
graduated to gopher, and now I am converting
to W3.
I have wais sources for Nucleic acids.
I would like to see better wais support
in httpd.
Comment 89: I love grphics in a document, but if it comes to searching
large amounts of text, keyword search
is better.
Comment 90: genial !!
Comment 91: Some body has got to fix the scrolling
of forms. It took twice as long
as needed to fill this in.
Comment 92: Visual (images, movies) and sounds are too slow to get.
Comment 93: The formatted text is fine - its that awful unformatted
(taken from a TTY) text this very difficult to read.
I use Mosaic as a browser, so things usually come up
looking nice. Often I wish all images were brought up
in the window (inlined) so that I don't have to manage
the extra windows.
Comment 94: You should have selection N/A for each
media type. I simply didn't enter
for many of them since I don't have
access to them.
Comment 95: Use an Xterminal hence no audio
Forms are unusable (almost) with Mosaic
Comment 96: I like images etc because they are the beauty of WWW
- that's what's so much better thean gopher.
I'd like to use WWW more often , and for more
'serious' purposes, but my field is geology
and the information isn't yet there. I anticipate
it's arrival, however, and have contributed in a small
way by establishing my own geological WWWserver.
Comment 97: I voted 9's on most of the questions. I
didn't know if I was supposed to rank
them against one another. If so, text
would be most important, then inline
images, then external images, then
movies, then sound. Or, er, keyword
searches would be beore external images.
Comment 98: to: "Would you classify u'rself as serach
text or visually ..."
i prefer a good mixture of text and images/movies
Comment 99: I am less successfull finding particular
topics as I would like. I am an eduacated
user.
Comment 100: Remember that you said to disregard
transfer time, but that is a huge
usabality impact! It can't really be
disregarded.
Comment 101: I like to use a combination of Keyword
search and text browsing when searching
information -- much like reading an
encyclopedia
Comment 102: I like Hypertext !!!
Comment 103: Re: how often do I use the Web per day:
I use it all the time, never close the client
Comment 104: we would like to have a better way
to do keyword searches in databases or
documents
Comment 105: WWW has revolutionized my research
and has already contributed to a lot
of saved time.
Comment 106: Time goes for constructing the database for www, I'd like to do
more browsing and exploring. in order to find good
sources supporting research in our Institute.
Comment 107: Question 5 - keyword searching is important to find
information quickly - then use graphics to
present the information in a useful way.
Comment 108: I haven't had occasion to retrieve
many images or movies yet.
Comment 109: I am using a Campus Sun to enter these forms, because the Mac Browser has not fully matured yet. Optimizing browsing for slower, older machines would be nice--but I don't know how feasible it is. I would like to get more information on live Internet video/audio conferencing.
Comment 110: Like all the images/pictures, but text
is still the bread and butter.
Comment 111: I dont have sound support for the time
being.
As my connection is rather slow
(64 kbaud), I prefer not to get too
many images. It takes up far too much
time.
Comment 112: In my research area (molecular biology/immunology)
there is not much in the way of sound or
movie data out there (that I know of) and
so much of the information is text and static
image based. However, I can see where that
format could be immensely useful - I have always
had a secret hankering to produce a methods
"book" where you could see someone pouring a
gel, or pulling a band from a caesium gradient.
Comment 113: Movies are not yet practical on my PC. Postage stamp size and choppy. And no sound board.
Comment 114: I don't have a charter to spend as much
time browsing as I'd like.
Comment 115: SORRY BUT THIS IS TAKING TOO MUCH TIME!
Comment 116: Movies have great potential; however,
my system ends up playing them at
too low a frame rate for them to be
more insightful than still pictures.
Comment 117: Don't have to time to use it more often.
Comment 118: Bandwidth is the big issue. I'd like to see more images,
especially in the sense of magazine-style
layouts, but we need more speed.
-JMax
Comment 119: Much of my time "exploring" Internet is
looking for specific things. keyword
searches on dbs like archie make finding
specific things faster. WWW allows for
finding new things.
Comment 120: I generally use the internet for database
searches ( eg, DNA sequence and genetic
data), for software updates, and for news.
Comment 121: I would classify myself as a "text and
visuals" (i.e. hypertext) person--not a
keyword person.Your question doesn't
allow that answer.
Comment 122: What format I like to see things in
depends on what I'm doing. I prefer to
browse text when getting an overview,
and keyword search when looking for
specific details.
Comment 123: Search/text/visual?! Mixed is best -- and keepig min mind most users have small (14")
screens, and modem links (14.4Kb)
so 256 color giant images are irritating not breathtaking. Effective use of text
and small well chosen
inline images, plus small
dialog boxes are best!
Comment 124: I haven't figureed out how to get
in-line sounds to work: never used
movies. In-line imagess piss me off
because they slow down the transfer time
and if I wswitch th em off then I feel that
I'm missing something
Comment 125: As far as the browsing preferences to
text, search, images, it all depends on
what I'm looking for and the precision
of my goal. I'd be disappointed to see this
survey used to tell people that WWW users
prefer to see listings of text rather then
search indices or other options. In many
cases providing all options is possible,
and in other cases the best method for
information selection is data-dependent,
and can be determined by the service provider.
I would have liked to click all the buttons
on the search question.
Comment 126: No questions were asked about use for
access to commercial services or access
to commercially oriented information. I
use WWW for such activities.
Comment 127: George P. Burdell slept here.
Comment 128: I like the form-entry capabilities of
WWW. Please expand on this and allow
for more flexibility in data entry,
validation rules, pre and post
processing, and calculated fields.
NOTE: Making a Forms MIME type would
be cool! Downloading a form could be
done via the external viewer. This
could be a program that would take the
form info, rules, and methods, and it
would allow entry. Submitting the form
could send a MIME email to some location.
This would allow a division of the
development of Mosaic and of the data
entry clients. Also, in this system,
we would definitely want the ability
to encrpt with PGP or something as good!
Definitely the in-place data entry is
valuable and useful too. But a MIME
form based system could even allow a
DRAWING data-entry area, for painting
pictures! I know this sounds weird,
but it is just an example of the kind
of input that user's could have in this
scenario. Education would love it!
Comment 129: My previous academic course was Artificial
Intelligence so a *LOT* of time was spent
on computer. Now I have less of an excuse
but I seem to be in here every day anyway.
Cyberspace is addictive. And I'm in touch
with colleagues & friends from my previous
Uni by email/talk systems daily, which is
very important to me. :)
Comment 130: For Q5, I like text (+ some images) and the ability
to search. It all depends on what I am looking for.
For example, the fish search extensions to Mosaic
are really nice.
Comment 131: If I'm after something specific I prefer a database
with a keyword search. If I'm looking for general
information I prefer text browsing following hyperlinks.
Comment 132: Even with the search facilities, it is
often difficult to find the topics
that are of interest.
Comment 133: I cannot yet view movies but would like them if I could.
Text is still invaluable for conveying certain types of
information.
Comment 134: Hmm, not sure about the meaning of the
word "explore".
Comment 135: I don't like movies/pictures/sounds because they
take so long to download.
For search vs. browse it depends on what I'm
looking for, and what facilities are provided.
Comment 136: I don't really have a good answer to question 5: I use all of these
for different purposes.
Comment 137: I just started using WWW (although I've been
on the internet for quite a few years) so I
haven't discovered all of the things one can
do with WWW.
Comment 138: I do not understand the nature of the second
to last question... It seems to me that one
would use a keyword search in order to arrive
at text or visually oriented information.
Comment 139: This is with respect to the previous survey regarding paix
paying for services. I personally would
not mind provided the fees were not excessive
however, getting my agency to pay for
them would be another story, since I am
not sure the decision makers would see
the value, perhaps if the fees were
part of the annual Internet fee(if that
is how it is billed>) then it would be
alot easier to collect charges from government
agencies, "in my opinion"
Comment 140: the outline/menu (mosaic at least) is randomly
organized. very difficult to find something
that you are specifically looking for, but
easy to browse. I have only found useful
things by "accident" while browsing; yet even
going after a specific item (history of science out
of Johns-Hopkins) which I know to be listed
on WWW, is nearly impossible for me, a WWW
neophyte.
Comment 141: Mosaic is annoying slow at scrolling
when there are this many buttons
on a page :(
Even on a sparc 10...
Comment 142: Question 5 of this survey should be detailed a bit
more.
Comment 143: Image transfer _very_ slow, sometimes
unusable for big images (like weather
information).
Comment 144: Its sometimes hard to do keyword
search without knowing the keywords :-)
Comment 145: I don't like the categories and questions
here - no clear distinctions or
definitions. "it all depends"
how could these answers be helpful?
Comment 146: this form was excruciatingly slow and awkward
to fill out over an ISDN line!
As a result, I probably will not fill out the others.
Comment 147: Note on survey interpretation: just because
I said I didn't do X very frequently doesn't
mean that I don't like doing it. In some cases
Ididn't know you could do X, e.g. archie
browse.
Comment 148: My primary activity is finding specs, documents &
software related to Web.
Comment 149: On question #5 I use all three modes
depending on what I need to research.
Comment 150: Some of the questions should have more
than 1 choice (e.g., #5). Also, I have
not yet downloaded audio files yet.
Conferencing might be nice.
Comment 151: Maybe one ought to ask *why* I don't like movies. Usually, as with images and sounds, it's because it takes too long to transfer them over the net. Hi JimDandy.
Comment 152: We use Mosaic+WWW (the plexus server) to
store and review internal (company)
documentation.
Comment 153: General user traits doesn't take into
account different modes of usage -- more
than one possible answer depending.
"...how well you prefer..." isn't English :)
Never -- Always isn't appropriate for some questions
(first part of question 3 in particular makes no sense
Comment 154: Only good things to say
Comment 155: Keyword searching facilities are still
inadequate; need more friendly interfaces
and better relevance feedback.
Comment 156: Startup time is a big issue. I like the
fancy pages, but even over a fast net connection,
they can load very slowly. Adaptive compression
or even display of incomplete documents would
be a huge improvement.
Comment 157: Would like more text formating capability in the HTML spec
Comment 158: If a god had a digitized form it would be an infinite hypertext browser.
Comment 159: As you can see I think it's wonderful and is part of our communal future
**** I am afraid your forms run *VERY* slowly and messily over the limited badwidth we have!***
scrolling is awful!
Comment 160: Mosaic is the beginning. Hopefully we will
expand from this foundation to a truely
high powered highly visual browsing and
retrieval toolset.
Comment 161: It is difficyult to fill this out becuase
there is no support for delete in this window!
This or rather these questionatres are a good idea
but the interface the user sees can be quite frustrating at times.
i.e. - not being able to correct spelling
(and slow scrolling due to use of radio buttons)
-Some questionas are also to specific or uninsightful to be usfull.
Qus////!92871!@$%!@.
Question 5 wihcih asks one to classify what type of user they are
by search, text or vsually oriented is highly misleading.
IT seems (at least to me) obvious that certain types of search lend themselves
to different search techniques regardless of user preference.
(Image search might use a combination of subject and visual search (i.e. a subject heiracrgy with a visual
browse.) (This however would be a poor interface for looking up Journal articles)
Comment 162: Although I prefer visual interaction, I
feel equally at home with text and
keyword searches.
Comment 163: It is tough to choose between keyword
searches and browsing text. When I am
looking for something specific, I want
to do a search. When I am seeing "What's
New," I like to browse.
Comment 164: still cool.
Comment 165: General user traits: I think this is an unfair categorization
of a user. I use the Web extensively for all three.
Each has it use. I'd hate to try to
browse by Keyword search, and
I'd hate to search databases
such as genbank and other bio-oriented database
by visual techniques.
Comment 166: Thank god for www
Comment 167: I love the multimedia aspects of WWW,
but I use the forms capability for research, e.g. using the BLAST server at NCBI.
I love being able to then retrieve the results and not
having to bother with E-mail messages.
Comment 168: I like the images, but I feel they are
a bit over-used; I get the impression
that they are often included for no
other reason than simply because they
can.
Comment 169: This is just a bare beginning of the Information
SuperHighway, but what a wonderful beginning.
I often have Mosaic up and running when
at work, and during long processing jobs
(frequent with the work I do) spend it
doing research or just exploring with Mosaic.
Comment 170: Excellent Job!!!
Comment 171: Spawned images are a lose for me because
I don't have xv, and can't configure mosaic
to just save images. Same with w3.el. I'm a NeXT
user, and anxiously await a NEXTSTEP
version.
WRT media types: I think text, images,
sound are obligatory. Movies strike me as
impractical, but I'm using a v.32
SLIP link.
Usage: The form support is great. Some of the
queries I've used (Archie, WAIS) could give
some feedback.
Comment 172: I would use graphics and sound more if they didn't overtax my machine.
Comment 173: I don't think it makes too much sense to ask
what sort of data people prefer. I like text
because it's there. if databease had better
coverage, I would prefer to search.
I don't have sound on my x terminal, so
that doesn't apply.
Comment 174: I want to clarify my answer to #5 (search,
text or visual users). I like to SEARCH
using keyword searching. Once I find a
document, I like to to include graphics.
Comment 175: Inlined images are a *pain* on slow network links
Keyword searching is the most efficient when you know what you're looking for.
Comment 176: Unable to display movies or sounds currently
Comment 177: The buttons scroll bad on xMosaic, but apart from that I
love it :-)
Comment 178: The Web is definitely (IMHO) the future of
Information Retrieval and Dissemination.
Long Live The Web! :-)
Comment 179: I'm an intermittent consultant so the
answers I give apply to the (few) weeks
when I'm working with access to www.
Comment 180: we recently got xmosaic, so the time of use and
exploration may get lower
Comment 181: Question 5, General User Traits, is far
too broad. I do all of these things,
at various times, depending on what I'm
trying to accomplish. None is dominant.
Comment 182: None of the X-terms I have access to
have sound capabilities, so sounds are
not much use to me!
Comment 183: ...which is probably more than I should...
Comment 184: I found the scales in section 3 a bit tricky.
'Sometimes' is very vague.
Comment 185: SAince I am an absolute beginner, and to be that forever,
doing complex things with pictures, gifs etc. is still
far to complicated for me. Since use WWW
for my job I am rather text oriented.
Comment 186: Keyword searching is only useful if there is the capability of regular expressions.
Comment 187: I'm hooked. Now that I have Mosaic running,
I can't put it down.
Comment 188: I've seen the future, and it's WWW
Comment 189: I think WWW is excellent intiative,
but I am afraid the restrictions from
some telephony companies (in France,
France Telecom is trying to get the fees
for Internet access)....
Comment 190: I like all the media types. The idea of multimedia is exciting.
Comment 191: I love images but because my link is slow
I don't really benefit from them yet.
Therefore I tend to searches to minimise
data transfer.
Comment 192: Go Jackets!!!!
Comment 193: question 3: retrieve documents is not clear.
Comment 194: Because it's too damned frusterating trying to find anything!!!
Comment 195: No support for 3D scripts??
Comment 196: Very new at this and trying to understand what is available
Comment 197: I like this form thing so I copied it!!
Comment 198: While I prefer browsing text, I very
much appreciate the ability to search
as needed.
Comment 199: Keyword search is good for locating
information, hypertext and images are
good for browsing the located
information (i.e. refinement)
Comment 200: You can see what I prefer by visiting my WWW-Server,
Comment 201: I use the browser a lot to
find new and interesting things on the
net and to expand my own knowledge.
Comment 202: I can't really rate sound, because my system doesn't have audio capabilities
Comment 203: I haven't been using it long, so my
profile is bound to change over time.
Comment 204: Movies? WHERE? All I see are static images, which are
fed to XV without the -owncmap switch.
What keyword search? I don't see one.
Comment 205: Curently my internet/WWW usage is higher than normal, because
we're setting up our own WWW server.
My 0.02$ worth on:
1) Inline pictures: Keep em small!
2) Movies: Downloading them usually takes a lot of time (big files)
External viewers have to wait for the whole file before they can show them, this
is in my opinion not true interactivity.
Maybe WWW-viewers should include their proper
mpeg-viewers so they can start showing 'the movie' while
it is still being transfered (on the fly decoding etc...)
3) Sounds: The same remarks as for movies.
Comment 206: Using Mosaic on a DEC alpha, this took
an annoyingly long time to scroll through.
Don't know if I'd do it again if I knew
what a pain it would be.
Comment 207: Sound possibilities are not as well supported as images at
machine level. More useful in the future.
Comment 208: The main reason I prefer text to images,
sounds, and movies is that my primary
Web use is over a 14.4kbps SLIP link.
Also, not all of the machines I use
are correctly set up to handle movies.
Comment 209: Can I get a copy of this report?
Thanks.
Comment 210: In the media assessement, I prefer small inline images that are links to the full ones.
Comment 211: About your survey: I don't think a scale
of numbers is appropriate for some of your
questions. For example, Retrieve Documents
Heck, that's most of what you can do with
Web clients.
Also, I never used an Archie browser. I always
use "archie -s string | mail `whoami`". I've
never seen an Archie Browser. I'd be interested if
you could point one out to me.
--
Comment 212: I would like to see more integration in the
search capabilities of archie, gopher,
veronica, WAIS, and the like. I would REALLY
like to see ONE search point where I could spawn
a keyword search that would search ALL databases
online (probably by spawning individual searches
on all the archies, etc. known to it). In this
way there would no longer be a problem with not
knowing if the information you're looking for
REALLY isn't out there, or if you just don't know
which server to ask the question of.
Comment 213: i am a new user and have trouble figuring out where
to look for pointers to databases.
Comment 214: Relative newcomer to WWW
Comment 215: Please Email me the data:
We are interested in analyzing the
data from your surveys. We have several
PhD students working on Statistical Inference
wiht interests in applying their skills
for modeling the Internet ...
Comment 216:
Comment 217: The main thing with the Web, is of course, speed. I "come into" the web from a dedicated 56k line from a UNIX workstations LAN and always wonder what it would be like to have my access times an order of magnitude faster if I were on a T1 to the backbone.
Still, the amount of usage I get out of a browser like Mosaic is immense.
Comment 218: I'd like to know where these survey
results will be published
Comment 219: i spend more time constructing my server
than browsing usually
Comment 220: I know too little about networking,
I can not make good use of resources,
I often go around in circles,
I mostly find info about the network and
not the resources I am looking for (and
do not read this network info)
Comment 221: This is our first time using WWW, but we LOVE it!!
Comment 222: Re: Question 4 on Media Type Assessment
My current environment does not support sound or
moveies, so I dislike servers that require those
capabilities. Once I upgrade my environment, that
preference is likely to change. I expect I will
like movies significantly, but I'm a bit wary
of sound since prior experience has shown that
people overuse it when they have it available.
Re: Question 5 on General User Traits
I had a great deal of difficulty picking a single
category. My mode of use changes with what I
am trying to do. I picked text based on
the tasks I've done in the last week (which
involved accessing several servers that were
almost entirely text based)
Comment 223: This survey is too simple. I like appropriate media and search techniques.
Comment 224: Absent "technical aspects" I prefer the embedded
graphics. However, spawned graphics often give an option
of viewing which, given certain network connections,
is preferred. Inline graphics can really gum up the works.
Comment 225: Thank you for doing the survey
Comment 226: Hope this is of use to someone.
Just my $0.02.
Comment 227: 5: Depends on the size of the dataset
to browse/search.
- Big sets -> keyword search
- Small sets -> browse.
Comment 228: Perhaps this will come up in a later
part of the survey, but I'll mention
it now: the biggest problem for me with
non-text stuff is speed. I have only
a 14.4K internet link and must usually
run with embedded images turned off.
I'd really like to see more use made
of image compression. Sending JPEG
instead of GIF, for instance, would be
a big win for me. Perhaps the WWW
protocol could be extended so that
a server could send different formats
depending on a client configuration
setting? (ie, "I have a slow machine
and a fast link, send GIF", or "vice
versa, send JPEG").
Comment 229: Sometimes I would prefer to click on more than one button.
Comment 230: I've set up Lynx on all the machines here at the University of Washington and made it world executable. Parlty due to that, the system administrators are going to start supporyting it officially.
Comment 231: really hooked on the text mode - use lynx rather than mosaic even though mosaic is avaible on some of the machines that I use. Lots of time the pictures don't add much. Would rather use the time retrieving text.