4 ms·

What on EARTH is that mouse cursor thing all about? Why would you even bother writing this, then making it impossible to read properly?

by tr888 3y ago

eerikkivistik 3y ago
I stopped in the middle of reading the post just for this. It was so distracting I was unable to focus on the text. It's a fun gimmick, but the result is that someone who wanted to read the post, stopped in the middle.
yrro 3y ago
I got a good laugh out of it.
oliwarner 3y ago
It's tracking every visitors' cursor and sharing it with every other visitor. Why would a frontend developer demonstrate their ability to do frontend programming on their personal, not altogether super-serious blog? I meant that rhetorically but it's a flex. I agree, not the best design in the world if you're catering for particular needs, but simple and fun enough. You should check out dark mode. In that vein, I think it's okay if we let people have fun. That might not work for everyone, but why should we let perfect be the worst enemy of fun?
- dathinab 3y ago
  > Why would because it shows that they don't understand important design aspects while it doesn't really show off their technical skills because it could be some plugin or copy pasted code, only someone who looks at the code would know better. But if someone care enough about you to look at your code you don't need to show of that skill on you normal web-site and can have some separate tech demo. > okay if we let people have fun yes people having fun is always fine especially if you don't care if anyone ever reads your blog or looks at it for whatever reason (e.g. hiring) but the moment you want people to look at it for whatever reason then there is tension i.e. people don't get hired to have fun and if you want others to read you blog you probably shouldn't assault them with constant distractions
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    Not every website, even technical ones, need to have an eye towards professional advancement. Sometimes they're just for fun. I welcome it, as it's a thing that gets more rare on the web as time goes by.
    - jamincan 3y ago
      Considering the dark mode is effectively flashlight mode, I think it's reasonable to assume the blog's owner just likes to have a bit of fun.
  - booleandilemma 3y ago
    Lighten up.
  - oliwarner 3y ago
    > people don't get hired to have fun Living by that motto is hugely self-destructive. Creative expression allows us to push ourselves, both in what we think we can do, and often the technical aspects about how we do it too. Even if the idea doesn't stick, you've tried something new. In a world of Tailwinds and Bootstraps and the same five templates copied again and again and again, let's celebrate the people willing to push things and learn from their inevitable but ultimately valuable mistakes. And let's have some fun along the way.
  - FinnKuhn 3y ago
    I assume the creator didn't anticipate this amount of readers at the same time and having one or two other cursors on the page does sound fun and not too distracting. They should probably limit the maximum amount of other cursors displayed to a sensible amount
dathinab 3y ago
(sarcasm) It's revenge against anyone with certain kinds of visual impairments and/or concentration issues because the ex-spouse of the author which turned out to be a terrible person had such. (sarcasm try 2) It's revenge against anyone using JS on the net with the author trying to subtle hint that JS is bad. (realistic) It's probably on of: - the website is a static view of some collaborative tool which has that functionality build in by default - some form of well intended but not well working functionality add to the site as it was some form of school/study project, in that case I'm worried about the author suffering unexpected very much higher cost due to it ending up on HN ...
- tonsky 3y ago
  Hi, author here. In case you really want to know: no, it’s custom-made and works exactly as intended. There are two main reasons: 1. Fun. Modern internet is boring, most blog posts are just black text on white background. Hard to remember where you read what. And you can’t really have fun without breaking some expectations. 2. Sense of community. Internet is a lonely place, and I don’t necessarily like that. I like the feeling of “right now, someone else reading the same thing as I do”. It’s human presence transferred over the network. I understand not everybody might like it. Some people just like when things are “normal” and everything is the same. Others might not like feeling of human presence. For those, I’m not hiding my content, reader mode is one click away, I make sure it works very well. As for “unexpectedly ended up on HN”, it’s not at all unexpected. Practically every one of my general topic articles ends up here. It’s so predictable I rely on HN to be my comment section.
  - pests 3y ago
    I like your content but I do think you need to rethink #1. Fun is usless if no one wants to show up because they are annoyed.
    - acqq 3y ago
      Count me too to the group of "I was so distracted that I stopped reading." Then the second thought was: I should again start to block js by default as much as I can.
Luctct 3y ago
I don't know what you people are talking about. I'm just glad I always browse with Javascript turned off. If you didn't see the writing on the wall and permanently turn Javascript off around 2006, you have no right to complain about anything. Meanwhile, ironic irony is ironic: "Hey, idiots! Learn to use Unicode already! Usability and stuff! Oh, btw, here is some extremely annoying Javascript pollution on your screen because we are all still children, right? Har har! Pranks are so kewl!!!1!"
- zbtaylor1 3y ago
  Are you alright?

What on EARTH is that mouse cursor thing all about? Why would you even bother writing this, then making it impossible to read properly?

by tr888 3y ago

What on EARTH is that mouse cursor thing all about? Why would you even bother writing this, then making it impossible to read properly?

eerikkivistik 3y ago

I stopped in the middle of reading the post just for this. It was so distracting I was unable to focus on the text. It's a fun gimmick, but the result is that someone who wanted to read the post, stopped in the middle.

yrro 3y ago

I got a good laugh out of it.

oliwarner 3y ago

It's tracking every visitors' cursor and sharing it with every other visitor. Why would a frontend developer demonstrate their ability to do frontend programming on their personal, not altogether super-serious blog? I meant that rhetorically but it's a flex. I agree, not the best design in the world if you're catering for particular needs, but simple and fun enough. You should check out dark mode. In that vein, I think it's okay if we let people have fun. That might not work for everyone, but why should we let perfect be the worst enemy of fun?

dathinab 3y ago
> Why would because it shows that they don't understand important design aspects while it doesn't really show off their technical skills because it could be some plugin or copy pasted code, only someone who looks at the code would know better. But if someone care enough about you to look at your code you don't need to show of that skill on you normal web-site and can have some separate tech demo. > okay if we let people have fun yes people having fun is always fine especially if you don't care if anyone ever reads your blog or looks at it for whatever reason (e.g. hiring) but the moment you want people to look at it for whatever reason then there is tension i.e. people don't get hired to have fun and if you want others to read you blog you probably shouldn't assault them with constant distractions
- JohnFen 3y ago
  Not every website, even technical ones, need to have an eye towards professional advancement. Sometimes they're just for fun. I welcome it, as it's a thing that gets more rare on the web as time goes by.
  - jamincan 3y ago
    Considering the dark mode is effectively flashlight mode, I think it's reasonable to assume the blog's owner just likes to have a bit of fun.
- booleandilemma 3y ago
  Lighten up.
- oliwarner 3y ago
  > people don't get hired to have fun Living by that motto is hugely self-destructive. Creative expression allows us to push ourselves, both in what we think we can do, and often the technical aspects about how we do it too. Even if the idea doesn't stick, you've tried something new. In a world of Tailwinds and Bootstraps and the same five templates copied again and again and again, let's celebrate the people willing to push things and learn from their inevitable but ultimately valuable mistakes. And let's have some fun along the way.
- FinnKuhn 3y ago
  I assume the creator didn't anticipate this amount of readers at the same time and having one or two other cursors on the page does sound fun and not too distracting. They should probably limit the maximum amount of other cursors displayed to a sensible amount

dathinab 3y ago

(sarcasm) It's revenge against anyone with certain kinds of visual impairments and/or concentration issues because the ex-spouse of the author which turned out to be a terrible person had such. (sarcasm try 2) It's revenge against anyone using JS on the net with the author trying to subtle hint that JS is bad. (realistic) It's probably on of: - the website is a static view of some collaborative tool which has that functionality build in by default - some form of well intended but not well working functionality add to the site as it was some form of school/study project, in that case I'm worried about the author suffering unexpected very much higher cost due to it ending up on HN ...

tonsky 3y ago
Hi, author here. In case you really want to know: no, it’s custom-made and works exactly as intended. There are two main reasons: 1. Fun. Modern internet is boring, most blog posts are just black text on white background. Hard to remember where you read what. And you can’t really have fun without breaking some expectations. 2. Sense of community. Internet is a lonely place, and I don’t necessarily like that. I like the feeling of “right now, someone else reading the same thing as I do”. It’s human presence transferred over the network. I understand not everybody might like it. Some people just like when things are “normal” and everything is the same. Others might not like feeling of human presence. For those, I’m not hiding my content, reader mode is one click away, I make sure it works very well. As for “unexpectedly ended up on HN”, it’s not at all unexpected. Practically every one of my general topic articles ends up here. It’s so predictable I rely on HN to be my comment section.
- pests 3y ago
  I like your content but I do think you need to rethink #1. Fun is usless if no one wants to show up because they are annoyed.
  - acqq 3y ago
    Count me too to the group of "I was so distracted that I stopped reading." Then the second thought was: I should again start to block js by default as much as I can.

Luctct 3y ago

I don't know what you people are talking about. I'm just glad I always browse with Javascript turned off. If you didn't see the writing on the wall and permanently turn Javascript off around 2006, you have no right to complain about anything. Meanwhile, ironic irony is ironic: "Hey, idiots! Learn to use Unicode already! Usability and stuff! Oh, btw, here is some extremely annoying Javascript pollution on your screen because we are all still children, right? Har har! Pranks are so kewl!!!1!"

zbtaylor1 3y ago
Are you alright?