50% of the web is in English, 1% in Arabic. Google operates in 110 languages. Translation is done by international users not by machines, much more efficient that way. Mayer used the translation technology to do a Swedish Chef version of a Google page that still gets millions of hits.
Performance correlates with increased hits - a 30% increase in google maps page performance resulted in 30% more hits to the site due to speed and increased ease of learning through faster feedback.
A key point she made was that often an application's purpose is to grow underlying technology not the actual function of the site. The Taxi Finder application that showed GPS-tracked taxis in NYC was not about taxis as much as about learning how to track things via GPS and display them on the web.
Also she emphasized the importance of creativity and prototyping. She builds applications herself from time to time as it's essential to keep a sense of what can be developed. Prototypes are critical as a part of decision making. 50% of google apps started out as a project
in each developer's 20% of work time assigned to prototyping.
Her key points were:
Keep pages as simple as possible. Use split A/B testing to test ideas that come out of usability interviews as sometimes they will turn out to be misleading.
Know your metrics on how your application is operating and how people use it.
Don't let the urgent drown out the important.
Build prototypes, set aside time for prototyping and allow products to arise from developers' creativity.
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