I’ve been thinking about a few of the features you see on some web sites, mainly the ‘send to a friend’ type thing that lets you fill out a form to send someone a link. I almost never use this, but is it because:
- The function is built into my browser
- I fear the use of my name/email for evil purposes
- I have no friends
I wonder what kind of stats are kept on such a feature and if there is added value to the user in it.
The other feature I question is the ‘print this page’ feature, which (usually) allows you to print a page without the navigation doodads and silly banner ads. I’ve worked on sites that have implemented this, and four years ago it made sense, but now that we have browsers that properly handle print style sheets, is this really needed anymore? Do you ever use it to print a page?
I’m contemplating the importance of such extra features in relation to taking a page and stripping it down, providing to the user only that which adds value. Less is more, right?