Too many clicks to read Auntie’s answer

| 11/08/2016

Why is it that I have to click on three links before I get to the answer to any of the questions that are asked ? Would really love it if the “Continue Reading” link from CNS.com took me directly to the article that I’m trying to continue reading. If that’s too convenient, could you at least take me to CNS Local Life and cut out the second click which is the same opening paragraph that I’ve just read?


Auntie’s answer: Well, here’s the good news: you can go straight to the ten most recent Ask Auntie answers with a single click from caymannewsservice.com. Just scroll down a little on the right hand side column and there are RSS feeds (which just give the title of the articles) from CNS Business, CNS Local Life, FreeCayAds and a special one for the Ask Auntie column.

There is also a direct link to all the other CNS websites on the menu bar, which would cut down on one click.

RSSIf you read my column every day (and why wouldn’t you?), you can always look for the RSS (Rich Site Summary) sign (see left) for any of the sites or categories — for Ask Auntie it’s https://cnslocallife.com/category/ask-auntie/feed/ — and save it in your browser as a favourite. For some reason known only to Google, this does not work on Chrome but does work on all other browsers, as far as I know.

If you have any suggestions on improvements, the CNS editor said she would love to hear them because the goal is to let as many CNS readers as possible know about this website and my column, and then to remind them to revisit.

To go back to your original question about the three clicks, the editor said that posting certain articles from CNS Local Life and CNS Business on the main site, which gets significantly more readers, is the best way to promote them. There is no way to add a link to the snippet, unfortunately, so the reader has to click the “Continue Reading” button, and then onto the next link.

Whether that link goes straight to the article or to the website has been the subject of some discussion within CNS, I’m told. The reasoning is that if it goes to the website, then the readers become more aware of the other articles and are more likely to stay on the site and read them. The downside is that people like you get frustrated by too many clicks.

The editor said she will answer any follow-up questions or feedback if you care to leave a comment.

Category: Ask Auntie

Comments (5)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    ‘Too Many Clicks’ maybe needs to take their hand to the gym or do more exercise. So sorry they have to be inconvenienced by clicking a mouse button 3 times , it is after all very exhausting…….

    • pproved? says:

      Okay, but why are the restaurant reviews in the business section? Does this really drive more clicks to the business articles? Doubt it.

      CNS Editor: Restaurants are businesses; they also straddle the tourism category. Yes, they do drive readers to the other articles.

      • Anonymous says:

        Not at the expense of a users experience though CNS. There’s simply NO need to have a restaurant review/article on CNS which then takes you to the home page of the business site, to then scroll down and find the review/article and click that to read it. It’s definitely putting the $$$$ before UI and that is a recipe for disaster in the long term.

        CNS: As explained, you can go from CNS to the actual review in one click from the CNS Business RSS feed on the right hand side of the CNS site. People seem to forget that reading CNS is completely free. You are not paying for what we believe is a high standard of content, which takes a lot of work to produce. Nothing. Nada. A few clicks for a free service. And still you complain.

        • Anonymous says:

          We are not directly paying, but we are paying your bills by looking at your ads for which you do get paid. So I’m not sure advertisers would agree with your attitude on the response to the end client. Personally, the extra click doesn’t overly bother me, but it does make me think more about how bothered I am about reading the article, the same goes for the restaurant reviews. So for me it is a bit of a deterrent, at the same time, sometimes when I do visit the business site through the restaurant reviews I do then read other articles so I do see the point. I think there should be a better way though such as a direct link and articles on the side, or maybe it redirects to the main page for ten seconds and then to the article.

    • anonymous says:

      8.51
      No need to be sarcastic. Capral tunnel syndrome and arthritis are not fun. The former is aggravated by clicking and gym won’t help the latter.