4 ms·

Web Design Mistakes of 1999 (1999)

82 points by selalipop 3y ago

surfingdino 3y ago
Nielsen and A List Apart used to be the go-to sources for guidance on good web design. It's sad to read through that list as see that majority of sites published today make every mistake from that list.
efortis 3y ago
Number 10: Anything That Looks Like Advertising
- tjpnz 3y ago
  How long until Google makes eye tracking a requirement of the open web, preventing anyone with banner blindness from using it?
keyle 3y ago
Hah. The good old days. Note that back in the day we didn't always agree with his pretty drastic opinions. Today though, it reads as true as ever. It's 2023, half these issues are still there and I still don't have my flying car.
- phero_cnstrcts 3y ago
  Back then I saw him as the enemy of creative freedom but today I have to admit I agree with many of the things he said. Especially about the lame attempts at getting the user to stay on a site
goodcharles 3y ago
This is so incredibly wrong: Once you have put a page on the Web, you need to keep it there indefinitely https://www.nngroup.com/articles/web-pages-must-live-forever/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/web-pages-must-live-forever... We need a curated web, not a swamp of every web page that ever existed.
- sugarkjube 3y ago
  No its not. Its not about keeping a swamp of old crap. Its about keeping the url to avoid dead links and 404's. Redirecting an old url to a new one with updated informmation is perfectly fine.
dehrmann 3y ago
To point out the obvious, all but the "lack of biographies" have only gotten worse. Maybe the biographies have too, but it doesn't seem as relevant as how the back button is now completely broken and links open new tabs all over the place, despite having a mouse button for doing just that.
dang 3y ago
Related: Web Design Mistakes of 1999 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37128279 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37128279 - Aug 2023 (1 comment) The Top Web Design Mistakes of 1999 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16978394 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16978394 - May 2018 (4 comments) Top Web Design Mistakes of 1999 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7835566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7835566 - June 2014 (73 comments)
dfee 3y ago
The irony of Web Design Mistakes of 1999 (1999) showing me a full page modal on visit asking for my cookie preferences.
- adonovan 3y ago
  Along with every other goddam page on the web. Welcome to 2023.
cobertos 3y ago
"3d sitemaps" - Wow, I did not know there was a time of the internet where people wanted and invested in 3d sitemaps! Sounds like a an interesting point of research for interesting UI experiments
- watersb 3y ago
  The first 3D sitemaps I can recall was a 1996 public demo project from an engineer at Apple. He came up with RDF in order to describe the site structure enough for it to be rendered in a QuickTime-3D application.
rickstanley 3y ago
> using an immediate redirect: every time the user clicks Back, the browser returns to a page that bounces the user forward to the undesired location The stupid Microsoft pages login redirects, it's incredibly annoying! The damn thing pollute the back button like a plague.
toastal 3y ago
> 2. Opening New Browser Windows Note that this very much includes new tabs as well. Do not add target=_blank without a very good reason since this breaks the user agent defaults. One very bad reason: internal links stay in my tab, but external links open in a new tab. No they don’t, they never have, & your website is not a snowflake. What you did is remove agency as there are a myriad of ways to override how to open a link in new window/tab from the user input side, but there is no way to do this to keep it in the current tab/window because it’s expected to be the default behavior.

82 points by selalipop 3y ago

Nielsen and A List Apart used to be the go-to sources for guidance on good web design. It's sad to read through that list as see that majority of sites published today make every mistake from that list.

efortis 3y ago

Number 10: Anything That Looks Like Advertising

tjpnz 3y ago
How long until Google makes eye tracking a requirement of the open web, preventing anyone with banner blindness from using it?

keyle 3y ago

Hah. The good old days. Note that back in the day we didn't always agree with his pretty drastic opinions. Today though, it reads as true as ever. It's 2023, half these issues are still there and I still don't have my flying car.

phero_cnstrcts 3y ago
Back then I saw him as the enemy of creative freedom but today I have to admit I agree with many of the things he said. Especially about the lame attempts at getting the user to stay on a site

goodcharles 3y ago

This is so incredibly wrong: Once you have put a page on the Web, you need to keep it there indefinitely https://www.nngroup.com/articles/web-pages-must-live-forever/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/web-pages-must-live-forever... We need a curated web, not a swamp of every web page that ever existed.

sugarkjube 3y ago
No its not. Its not about keeping a swamp of old crap. Its about keeping the url to avoid dead links and 404's. Redirecting an old url to a new one with updated informmation is perfectly fine.

dehrmann 3y ago

To point out the obvious, all but the "lack of biographies" have only gotten worse. Maybe the biographies have too, but it doesn't seem as relevant as how the back button is now completely broken and links open new tabs all over the place, despite having a mouse button for doing just that.

dang 3y ago

Related: Web Design Mistakes of 1999 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37128279 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37128279 - Aug 2023 (1 comment) The Top Web Design Mistakes of 1999 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16978394 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16978394 - May 2018 (4 comments) Top Web Design Mistakes of 1999 - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7835566 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7835566 - June 2014 (73 comments)

dfee 3y ago

The irony of Web Design Mistakes of 1999 (1999) showing me a full page modal on visit asking for my cookie preferences.

adonovan 3y ago
Along with every other goddam page on the web. Welcome to 2023.

cobertos 3y ago

"3d sitemaps" - Wow, I did not know there was a time of the internet where people wanted and invested in 3d sitemaps! Sounds like a an interesting point of research for interesting UI experiments

watersb 3y ago
The first 3D sitemaps I can recall was a 1996 public demo project from an engineer at Apple. He came up with RDF in order to describe the site structure enough for it to be rendered in a QuickTime-3D application.

rickstanley 3y ago

> using an immediate redirect: every time the user clicks Back, the browser returns to a page that bounces the user forward to the undesired location The stupid Microsoft pages login redirects, it's incredibly annoying! The damn thing pollute the back button like a plague.

toastal 3y ago

> 2. Opening New Browser Windows Note that this very much includes new tabs as well. Do not add target=_blank without a very good reason since this breaks the user agent defaults. One very bad reason: internal links stay in my tab, but external links open in a new tab. No they don’t, they never have, & your website is not a snowflake. What you did is remove agency as there are a myriad of ways to override how to open a link in new window/tab from the user input side, but there is no way to do this to keep it in the current tab/window because it’s expected to be the default behavior.