6 ms·

Show HN: Space Invaders in the URL

38 points by arnaudsm 7y ago

bananocurrency 7y ago
would have been fine without hijacking my navigation with it.
MulliMulli 7y ago
Cool stuff. A back button/link would be nice though.
robbrown451 7y ago
Ha. Pretty awesome. No luck using the back button to get back to Hacker News, but I guess that's unsurprising.
halotrope 7y ago
Very nice! However breaking the back button is very bad UX (remember ad-stuffed pages that would not let go back to google). I think it should be possible to change the hash without adding a new page by not using history API.
- jwilk 7y ago
  They are using location.hash. history.replaceState() wouldn't break the back button, but apparently history API is throttled in some browsers; see the "One Last Thing" section on https://matthewrayfield.com/articles/animating-urls-with-javascript-and-emojis/ https://matthewrayfield.com/articles/animating-urls-with-jav... .
mfgs 7y ago
Cool! Firefox on mobile doesn't render the emojis though, just long strings of Unicode strings.
hutattedonmyarm 7y ago
For those on desktop Safari: You have to enable "Show full website address" in its "advanced" settings tab
- kevinventullo 7y ago
  I couldn’t figure out how to do this on Chrome for iOS. The relevant flag does not seem to exist.
tempodox 7y ago
That's the worst address bar virus I've seen yet. Back button has a seizure. Restoring sanity requires closing the tab (or just reboot). It's probably a law of nature that a certain fraction of creative energy goes into bad jokes like this.
- amenod 7y ago
  It is a nice game though, and even quite playable. Not to mention it is a great hack. As for the back button, I would argue that this is a problem that browsers should solve. Even in the wild, it happens often that the first page immediately redirects (via JS) to some other page - good luck using the Back button then. Maybe the page that wasn't displayed for more than ~1s shouldn't exist in history at all, or at least shouldn't be taken into account when pressing Back button? I'm sure even better solutions exist.
  - allover 7y ago
    Yep, see jwilk's comment re: history.replaceState() existing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21368314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21368314
- cddotdotslash 7y ago
  Hyperbole is strong with this one. Virus? Sanity? Rebooting? Just close the tab, it's an interesting hack, nothing more.
rolltiide 7y ago
Quite confused on iphone safari and then to find the back history was hijacked as an integral component of this game
adtac 7y ago
WARNING: this completely obliterates your browser history. Open this only in a private browsing widow.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- mrzool 7y ago
  Flagged. This doesn’t belong on the front page.
  - arnaudsm 7y ago
    I am sorry about that, it was just a funny experiment. I thought it was acceptable considering that you accepted a similar post 6 months ago, which stayed on the frontpage for a long time : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19679890 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19679890
    - _ph_ 7y ago
      I really like your experiment - but you should put it behind the landing page which explains the consequences for the browsing history and recommends using a private tab. Then its absolutely ok and should be posted again on HN.
    - mrzool 7y ago
      Your experiment is definitely fun and interesting but has pretty annoying side effects, like dumping dozens of entries in the browser history and making the back button unusable. Some people don’t mind, others do.
Volv 7y ago
Its interesting to me how many people complain about the history / request a back button / link. I agree that sites shouldn't break history but tabs have made the back button almost obsolete to me. Everything is middle clicked for new tab / middle clicked away when done. I messed around with the site. Middle clicked it away and ended up here as I'd opened the comments in a new tab before I started. Didn't even notice the history issue.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- Lynbarry 7y ago
  Have you ever browsed on mobile?
- _ph_ 7y ago
  Indeed, in my normal browsing habits, I rarely rely on the back button, as it usually forces a page reload which is very slow. Like you, I am using a stack of tabs instead. On mobile though, I use the back button more, as tab creation is not as easy (why no browser does this with a 2-finger tab, I don't understand). However, the side effect of this goes much further, it also hoses your browsing history, and sometimes you really need that. So while this is a cool hack, there shouldn't be a direct link on the HN front page.
tobyhinloopen 7y ago
I should have known better to click this link
_ph_ 7y ago
Please remove the direct link from the front page as it has negative effects on the browser due to screwing up the browser history. This link should be embedded in the post with a proper warning.

38 points by arnaudsm 7y ago

bananocurrency 7y ago

would have been fine without hijacking my navigation with it.

MulliMulli 7y ago

Cool stuff. A back button/link would be nice though.

robbrown451 7y ago

Ha. Pretty awesome. No luck using the back button to get back to Hacker News, but I guess that's unsurprising.

halotrope 7y ago

Very nice! However breaking the back button is very bad UX (remember ad-stuffed pages that would not let go back to google). I think it should be possible to change the hash without adding a new page by not using history API.

jwilk 7y ago
They are using location.hash. history.replaceState() wouldn't break the back button, but apparently history API is throttled in some browsers; see the "One Last Thing" section on https://matthewrayfield.com/articles/animating-urls-with-javascript-and-emojis/ https://matthewrayfield.com/articles/animating-urls-with-jav... .

mfgs 7y ago

Cool! Firefox on mobile doesn't render the emojis though, just long strings of Unicode strings.

hutattedonmyarm 7y ago

For those on desktop Safari: You have to enable "Show full website address" in its "advanced" settings tab

kevinventullo 7y ago
I couldn’t figure out how to do this on Chrome for iOS. The relevant flag does not seem to exist.

tempodox 7y ago

That's the worst address bar virus I've seen yet. Back button has a seizure. Restoring sanity requires closing the tab (or just reboot). It's probably a law of nature that a certain fraction of creative energy goes into bad jokes like this.

amenod 7y ago
It is a nice game though, and even quite playable. Not to mention it is a great hack. As for the back button, I would argue that this is a problem that browsers should solve. Even in the wild, it happens often that the first page immediately redirects (via JS) to some other page - good luck using the Back button then. Maybe the page that wasn't displayed for more than ~1s shouldn't exist in history at all, or at least shouldn't be taken into account when pressing Back button? I'm sure even better solutions exist.
- allover 7y ago
  Yep, see jwilk's comment re: history.replaceState() existing: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21368314 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21368314
cddotdotslash 7y ago
Hyperbole is strong with this one. Virus? Sanity? Rebooting? Just close the tab, it's an interesting hack, nothing more.

rolltiide 7y ago

Quite confused on iphone safari and then to find the back history was hijacked as an integral component of this game

adtac 7y ago

WARNING: this completely obliterates your browser history. Open this only in a private browsing widow.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
mrzool 7y ago
Flagged. This doesn’t belong on the front page.
- arnaudsm 7y ago
  I am sorry about that, it was just a funny experiment. I thought it was acceptable considering that you accepted a similar post 6 months ago, which stayed on the frontpage for a long time : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19679890 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19679890
  - _ph_ 7y ago
    I really like your experiment - but you should put it behind the landing page which explains the consequences for the browsing history and recommends using a private tab. Then its absolutely ok and should be posted again on HN.
  - mrzool 7y ago
    Your experiment is definitely fun and interesting but has pretty annoying side effects, like dumping dozens of entries in the browser history and making the back button unusable. Some people don’t mind, others do.

Volv 7y ago

Its interesting to me how many people complain about the history / request a back button / link. I agree that sites shouldn't break history but tabs have made the back button almost obsolete to me. Everything is middle clicked for new tab / middle clicked away when done. I messed around with the site. Middle clicked it away and ended up here as I'd opened the comments in a new tab before I started. Didn't even notice the history issue.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Lynbarry 7y ago
Have you ever browsed on mobile?
_ph_ 7y ago
Indeed, in my normal browsing habits, I rarely rely on the back button, as it usually forces a page reload which is very slow. Like you, I am using a stack of tabs instead. On mobile though, I use the back button more, as tab creation is not as easy (why no browser does this with a 2-finger tab, I don't understand). However, the side effect of this goes much further, it also hoses your browsing history, and sometimes you really need that. So while this is a cool hack, there shouldn't be a direct link on the HN front page.

tobyhinloopen 7y ago

I should have known better to click this link

_ph_ 7y ago

Please remove the direct link from the front page as it has negative effects on the browser due to screwing up the browser history. This link should be embedded in the post with a proper warning.