This was faster than they had anticipated, and by far faster than any of the other numbers that have been floating around out there about web "first impressions"...3 seconds, 10 seconds, 15 seconds.

And I believe it. As soon as a page loads, before I ever read a word of text, I will already have a "feeling" about a site.

If the look and feel is attractive and the content is crap, then I will simply appreciate that they took time to create a pleasant user experience.

If the content is good, but that first impression was one of bleh, I will appreciate that their content is valuable, but feel bad that the site's owner didn't care enough or have the resources to wrap it up in a nice package.

As I've used Bloglines more, I will follow a blog through the feed for weeks or even months before I visit the actual site (particularly if the blogger puts their entire post into the feed). This way, I form an opinion on content before I ever see the site.

Have I ever visited a site whose content I previously liked and been disappointed? Does that taint my opinion of the content? Sometimes. I'd like to think I am more evolved than that, but I guess not.

I still maintain that content is king. But I also know that even the most highly evolved and thoughtful site visitors will subconsciously make a judgement about the look of your site in a fraction of a second. Oh, and me too.