Eight Problems That Haven't Changed [On The Web]

  • Artykuł

One of my friends from my UNB days has posted a link to a rather interesting article titled Eight Problems That Haven't Changed.

I read it this afternoon and found it to be pretty fascinating.  I agree with almost all of them but sort of disagree with one.  From the article, they list the 8 problems as:

  1. Links that don't change colour when visited
  2. Breaking the back button (Huge pet peeve of mine)
  3. Opening new browser windows
  4. Pop up windows
  5. Design elements that look like advertisements
  6. Violating web-wide conventions
  7. Vaporous content and empty hype
  8. Desnse content and unscannable text

I think number two is my all time pet peeve.  Well, that and sites that include music on the page (one reason why I can't stand myspace.com).  The back button is my guide to where I was, and life in general.  It's like this giant undo button.  You end up on a site you don't like, boom, gone, with one click! 

As for opening new windows, this one I'm not so sure I agree with.  In this age of tabbed browsing, why not spit someone off to a new window so that they can very easily get back to your site, or the place they were immediately before they left.  To me, it's like the magic back button in the sky.  As soon as a new window opens, I generally assume I've left the property I was looking at, and am now at a whole new place.  It gives me a feeling of a change in pace.

A fascinating article, worth the read!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    June 14, 2006
    I agree, opening a new window definitely has a place, and, used judiciously, can be very useful.  The article says that too, but also goes on to say (and I also agree with this), that popup advertising has basically ruined a (potentially) good thing.

    When I develop web applications that benefit from popups, I usually put a warning somewhere on the page that pops up new windows that a new window is going to pop up.  But I do that less and less these days.

    One other thing about tabbed browsing is I find myself using the back button a lot less than I used to: I tend to just open everything in a new tab so I never have a back history.  I tend to use browser history more now than I did in the days of one-window no-tab browsing.
  • Anonymous
    June 22, 2006
    The comment has been removed