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"Your analytics aren't a useful metric for determining what a user wants to do or see." They're a pretty good starting point.

by iamben 6y ago

inetknght 6y ago
Not really. Those metrics come at the cost of spying on your users. Just ask your users what they want. Or give them the option to change it themselves.
- mdoms 6y ago
  You're getting off track here. If you ask the users what they want (and you have reliable sampling) you're going to get the same result - very few of them will be running 550px wide browser windows.
  - inetknght 5y ago
    > You're getting off track here. No I'm not. > If you ask the users what they want (and you have reliable sampling) you're going to get the same result - very few of them will be running 550px wide browser windows. That's a very huge assumption. I know many people who would have 550px browser windows if those browser windows weren't cluttered with all sorts of garbage that won't go away when the window is resized.
    - mdoms 5y ago
      It's not a huge assumption at all. Lots of us already have access to this data from our analytics.
      - inetknght 5y ago
        > It's not a huge assumption at all. Lots of us already have access to this data from our analytics. So you're saying that a lot of people have access to privacy-violating analytics. And that the analytics don't tell you what people want. And so you make decisions based on inferred information. No wonder the web is a dumpster fire today.
        mdoms 5y ago
        So again you're off track. We're here to talk about responsive design, not privacy issues. Analytics don't tell you what people want, but what they do. And what they do is browse the web in mostly large or maximised windows (when on desktop).
- deckard1 5y ago
  > Those metrics come at the cost of spying on your users. You can do analytics without doing Google Analytics. More people need to understand this. There is nothing wrong with analytics (other than code/network bloat from overuse). Every website you connect to already has your IP address, browser info, referrer site, etc. > Just ask your users what they want. Jesus no. Do you even understand why we do analytics in the first place? We do analytics because you can't trust users to actually say what they want. The analytics tells you exactly what users are doing. And yes, analytics tells you that some weirdo is browsing your site at 20px wide. No one is spending money and time designing anything for the outliers.
  - inetknght 5y ago
    > Jesus no. Do you even understand why we do analytics in the first place? Yes. > We do analytics because you can't trust users to actually say what they want. False. > The analytics tells you exactly what users are doing. At the cost of their privacy you get to learn what people are doing. That still doesn't tell you what they want.

"Your analytics aren't a useful metric for determining what a user wants to do or see." They're a pretty good starting point.

by iamben 6y ago

"Your analytics aren't a useful metric for determining what a user wants to do or see." They're a pretty good starting point.

inetknght 6y ago

Not really. Those metrics come at the cost of spying on your users. Just ask your users what they want. Or give them the option to change it themselves.

mdoms 6y ago
You're getting off track here. If you ask the users what they want (and you have reliable sampling) you're going to get the same result - very few of them will be running 550px wide browser windows.
- inetknght 5y ago
  > You're getting off track here. No I'm not. > If you ask the users what they want (and you have reliable sampling) you're going to get the same result - very few of them will be running 550px wide browser windows. That's a very huge assumption. I know many people who would have 550px browser windows if those browser windows weren't cluttered with all sorts of garbage that won't go away when the window is resized.
  - mdoms 5y ago
    It's not a huge assumption at all. Lots of us already have access to this data from our analytics.
    - inetknght 5y ago
      > It's not a huge assumption at all. Lots of us already have access to this data from our analytics. So you're saying that a lot of people have access to privacy-violating analytics. And that the analytics don't tell you what people want. And so you make decisions based on inferred information. No wonder the web is a dumpster fire today.
      - mdoms 5y ago
        So again you're off track. We're here to talk about responsive design, not privacy issues. Analytics don't tell you what people want, but what they do. And what they do is browse the web in mostly large or maximised windows (when on desktop).
deckard1 5y ago
> Those metrics come at the cost of spying on your users. You can do analytics without doing Google Analytics. More people need to understand this. There is nothing wrong with analytics (other than code/network bloat from overuse). Every website you connect to already has your IP address, browser info, referrer site, etc. > Just ask your users what they want. Jesus no. Do you even understand why we do analytics in the first place? We do analytics because you can't trust users to actually say what they want. The analytics tells you exactly what users are doing. And yes, analytics tells you that some weirdo is browsing your site at 20px wide. No one is spending money and time designing anything for the outliers.
- inetknght 5y ago
  > Jesus no. Do you even understand why we do analytics in the first place? Yes. > We do analytics because you can't trust users to actually say what they want. False. > The analytics tells you exactly what users are doing. At the cost of their privacy you get to learn what people are doing. That still doesn't tell you what they want.