Clocks not popular, Why?

Also why not geo-target?

[a1call]

Hi,

I just added a clock to my site. Then looked around and seems like other sites just have a date feature and not a clock feature. Wonder why.
Must be a performance issue.
Also I couldn't find any site which would serve the time according to the ip address of the user. I believe this is technically possible. It is basically geo-targeting. But all the clock sites I checked asked you to declare your city. I think this would be a useful feature. Anyone interested in developing this as a web service?

[Teshka]

Doesn't everyone already have a clock in their task bar? What value would this add?

[a1call]

Hi Teshka,
I thought of that. But the system tray clock is hard to read at higher resolutions. PC clocks are notoriously inaccurate. And in spite of it's existence and not to mention the watch on your hand or the clock on the wall. It is useful and logical to have a clock at a portal type site.
The ideal portal would serve useful information such as weather, time and so on without having to login or register and through geo-targeting. Computers are made for this type of stuff why not use them inteligently?

[Rosalind]

But the system tray clock is hard to read at higher resolutions.

Who would set their resolution so that the text is too tiny to read? That doesn't make much sense. People who use higher resolutions also tend to have larger monitors, so it cancels itself out.

I wouldn't consider this to be a useful feature for a portal, unless the portal was specifically geared towards telling the time, or a time-sensitive subject such as TV listings.

[encyclo]

Teshka is right - I can't see any need for this, as every operating system GUI I know displays a clock, set by the user to his or her local time. If the screen resolution makes it unreadable but the time is important to the user, they would fix it. If precise accuracy mattered, they would adjust their system clock.

What's more, the clock on your site risks to be even more inaccurate than the system clock - if you are using a server-side script to calculate the time, it will be static once the page is loaded. A Javascript clock moves, but is uses the system clock time, so you're no further forward.

Finally, geo-targeting can't do what you want, because IP addresses are issued regionally but may be used anywhere: for example, an AOL customer in the UK could be issued with an AOL-owned US IP address. Also, take the example of Canada, which is one country as defined by IP address lists, but has five time zones.

Clocks on web pages are cruft. You should use your screen real-estate for something more valuable - even a targeted ad would pay better and is much more likely to be useful to the end user.

[a1call]

Hi encyclo,
Thanks for the reply. All points are valid except that the site clock can be accurate (not considering location). A web server could synchronize its clock using atomic clock feeds available on the net, set a javascript or java program to sync at time of loading and show a time not dependant on the client's clock. Google for clock and you will find bunch of sites which do this already.
I am going to take off the java clock I put on because it takes the focus off the page(affecting scrolling with microsoft mouse).

[SkyDog]

Does anyone really know what time it is?

[numbrel]

Does anyone really know what time it is?

25 or 6 to 4

[a1call]

Hi numbrel,
I rest my case. Look at the time you submited your post and the time you probably read off your system tray.;)

[trillianjedi]

My system tray clock is synchronised to an atomic clock over the net.

This is a standard feature of Windows XP.

As others have mentioned though, your website real-estate is far too valuable to be shoving a clock on.

If you're short of things to put on the page, then you're lacking content not gadgets.

TJ

[HughMungus]

Any marketing person will tell you that the last thing you want is a clock. You don't want your users worrying about how much time they're spending on your site.