I came across this excellent article on the BBC website at the weekend on the annual report into web habits by usability guru Jakob Nielsen which is a huge wake up call for those designers and Clients who get carried away when designing a site and developing its architecture. Interestingly most of it is not news - just something I think some people (and I count myself in that) forget along the way.
Apparently "Instead of dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave. Most ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention."
They conclude that "People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he said. "I do not think sites appreciate that yet," he added. "They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."
Just keep that in mind next time everyone is throwing in widgets, video, forums and discussions boards that unless it is absolutely relevant to the needs of the visitors it will achieve the opposite the effect !