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Anytime tonsky's site gets posted here, I'm reminded by how awful it is, which is ironic given his UI/UX background. The site's lightmode is a blinding saturate

Anytime tonsky's site gets posted here, I'm reminded by how awful it is, which is ironic given his UI/UX background. The site's lightmode is a blinding saturated yellow, and if you switch into darkmode, it's an even less readable "cute" flashlight js trick. I don't know why he thought this was a good idea. Thank god for Firefox reader mode.

ericmcer 3y ago
I don't think he added moving cursors all over the page because he thought it was good UI/UX, he knows what he is doing.
- superq 3y ago
  This is seemingly self-contradictory. Perhaps you could explain your reasoning further?
  - ksoped 3y ago
    You gotta know the rules to bend the rules
  - Scarbutt 3y ago
    It's called satire.
  - chaorace 3y ago
    It lets you hold hands with strangers
  - gpvos 3y ago
    Doing bad things is their idea of fun.
- 876978095789789 3y ago
  He appears (if his logos are anything to go by) to be a flat UI guy. I doubt any of these people know what they're doing.
- toastercat 3y ago
  I'm having a hard time reconciling "he knows what he is doing" with him making his site practically unusable without a reader mode, which by the way, not every browser supports (especially on mobile).
  - throwaway290 3y ago
    Don't even think of switching on the dark (night) mode with that attitude! :D I really enjoyed the tongue in cheek design. I think every modern browser either allows you to turn on reader mode (especially on mobile) or just turn off CSS. This particular article works excellently even in w3m.
    - toastercat 3y ago
      > Don't even think of switching on the dark (night) mode with that attitude! :D :D > I really enjoyed the tongue in cheek design. I think every modern browser either allows you to turn on reader mode (especially on mobile) or just turn off CSS. This particular article works excellently even in w3m. Firefox Focus on mobile does not have Reader Mode.
      - throwaway290 3y ago
        Fair enough. Tbh at a different time I would probably be as pissed at the author as anyone. Might be mood dependent. I should also add that the night mode won't be as fun on mobile either, just checked and I don't think it works with pointer events for the effect
    - slipperlobster 3y ago
      Fine, sure. Cute - turn on reader mode. Now the images that are supposed to be sitting over yellow background are dark gray images over a slightly less dark gray background. The decision to design a serious (read: not-tongue-in-cheek) topic with these "quirky" tricks sucks, JMHO.
coldpie 3y ago
Works like a normal website with JavaScript disabled. I didn't even know it did fancy junk until reading the comments here. NoScript saves the day again! I don't know how people can browse the web without it.
- aembleton 3y ago
  By using reader mode
- gpvos 3y ago
  It is some time ago since I last used it, but I found that too many websites that I want to read require Javascript to even show you the main body of text, or a reasonable layout. Is that different now?
  - coldpie 3y ago
    No. Just whitelist the main domain for sites that are obviously broken. Then try one or two likely subdomains if that's not enough. In the rare cases where it still wants more crap enabled, then it's usually not worth the effort, close tab and move on to something else. As you build up a whitelist over time, it becomes pretty rare that you need to interact with it more than a couple times per day. Yeah, it takes some effort, but it's worth it to nuke cookie banners and sticky headers and videos and all the other crap people do with JS.
    - gpvos 3y ago
      I already have that routine with uBlock Origin. I don't think NoScript offers all of uBO's functionality, and I certainly won't do the same dance for two extensions, but I'll look into uBO's abilities to specifically block JS.
      - coldpie 3y ago
        Makes sense! I use both, uBO just does its thing and I never interact with it. NoScript handles blocking & whitelisting javascript. It's totally possible uBO has a similar feature and I just don't know about it.
Arech 3y ago
I'd say this annoying trick is highly appropriate for the topic!
spacechild1 3y ago
It is obviously a joke (and a good one, I dare say). The fact that people seem to take it seriously says something about the contemporary state of webdesign :)
- mplewis 3y ago
  It would be a better joke if there were an option to turn the joke off. As it is, dark mode doesn't exist and the pointers occlude text.
  - spacechild1 3y ago
    > It would be a better joke if there were an option to turn the joke off. As others have pointed out, reader mode works as expected.
    - toastercat 3y ago
      1. Not every browser has reader mode 2. I don't think it's a very good joke to post long-form content on your blog with the expectation that it's basically unreadable without a reader mode. > The fact that people seem to take it seriously says something about the contemporary state of webdesign :) Mind expanding and what it says exactly about contemporary web design? Whether I take it seriously or not doesn't change the fact that it's still damn hard to read anything.
      - spacechild1 3y ago
        > Mind expanding and what it says exactly about contemporary web design? The same as when political satire is indistinguishable from actual politics. It means that the real things has sort of become a joke itself.
        toastercat 3y ago
        I can agree that most modern web design is bad. I can also agree that the web design on tonsky's site is bad, but OK, I acknowledge that it is intentionally bad; so bad that it's unreadable. I had myself a chuckle now, and next time I see a link to tonsky's site, I'll click on it, chuckle, and immediately leave.
LordDragonfang 3y ago
It's deeply ironic that an article about dealing with text properly has images which are part of the article text and yet have no alt-text, rendering parts of the article unreadable in reader mode if the server is slow.
torgard 3y ago
Well, I thought it was fun.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
johnnyanmac 3y ago
>it's an even less readable "cute" flashlight js trick. I don't know why he thought this was a good idea. Thank god for Firefox reader mode. not even a proper flashlight. it updates when the mouse moves, so you're SOL if you scroll on desktop.

ericmcer 3y ago

I don't think he added moving cursors all over the page because he thought it was good UI/UX, he knows what he is doing.

superq 3y ago
This is seemingly self-contradictory. Perhaps you could explain your reasoning further?
- ksoped 3y ago
  You gotta know the rules to bend the rules
- Scarbutt 3y ago
  It's called satire.
- chaorace 3y ago
  It lets you hold hands with strangers
- gpvos 3y ago
  Doing bad things is their idea of fun.
876978095789789 3y ago
He appears (if his logos are anything to go by) to be a flat UI guy. I doubt any of these people know what they're doing.
toastercat 3y ago
I'm having a hard time reconciling "he knows what he is doing" with him making his site practically unusable without a reader mode, which by the way, not every browser supports (especially on mobile).
- throwaway290 3y ago
  Don't even think of switching on the dark (night) mode with that attitude! :D I really enjoyed the tongue in cheek design. I think every modern browser either allows you to turn on reader mode (especially on mobile) or just turn off CSS. This particular article works excellently even in w3m.
  - toastercat 3y ago
    > Don't even think of switching on the dark (night) mode with that attitude! :D :D > I really enjoyed the tongue in cheek design. I think every modern browser either allows you to turn on reader mode (especially on mobile) or just turn off CSS. This particular article works excellently even in w3m. Firefox Focus on mobile does not have Reader Mode.
    - throwaway290 3y ago
      Fair enough. Tbh at a different time I would probably be as pissed at the author as anyone. Might be mood dependent. I should also add that the night mode won't be as fun on mobile either, just checked and I don't think it works with pointer events for the effect
  - slipperlobster 3y ago
    Fine, sure. Cute - turn on reader mode. Now the images that are supposed to be sitting over yellow background are dark gray images over a slightly less dark gray background. The decision to design a serious (read: not-tongue-in-cheek) topic with these "quirky" tricks sucks, JMHO.

coldpie 3y ago

Works like a normal website with JavaScript disabled. I didn't even know it did fancy junk until reading the comments here. NoScript saves the day again! I don't know how people can browse the web without it.

aembleton 3y ago
By using reader mode
gpvos 3y ago
It is some time ago since I last used it, but I found that too many websites that I want to read require Javascript to even show you the main body of text, or a reasonable layout. Is that different now?
- coldpie 3y ago
  No. Just whitelist the main domain for sites that are obviously broken. Then try one or two likely subdomains if that's not enough. In the rare cases where it still wants more crap enabled, then it's usually not worth the effort, close tab and move on to something else. As you build up a whitelist over time, it becomes pretty rare that you need to interact with it more than a couple times per day. Yeah, it takes some effort, but it's worth it to nuke cookie banners and sticky headers and videos and all the other crap people do with JS.
  - gpvos 3y ago
    I already have that routine with uBlock Origin. I don't think NoScript offers all of uBO's functionality, and I certainly won't do the same dance for two extensions, but I'll look into uBO's abilities to specifically block JS.
    - coldpie 3y ago
      Makes sense! I use both, uBO just does its thing and I never interact with it. NoScript handles blocking & whitelisting javascript. It's totally possible uBO has a similar feature and I just don't know about it.

Arech 3y ago

I'd say this annoying trick is highly appropriate for the topic!

spacechild1 3y ago

It is obviously a joke (and a good one, I dare say). The fact that people seem to take it seriously says something about the contemporary state of webdesign :)

mplewis 3y ago
It would be a better joke if there were an option to turn the joke off. As it is, dark mode doesn't exist and the pointers occlude text.
- spacechild1 3y ago
  > It would be a better joke if there were an option to turn the joke off. As others have pointed out, reader mode works as expected.
  - toastercat 3y ago
    1. Not every browser has reader mode 2. I don't think it's a very good joke to post long-form content on your blog with the expectation that it's basically unreadable without a reader mode. > The fact that people seem to take it seriously says something about the contemporary state of webdesign :) Mind expanding and what it says exactly about contemporary web design? Whether I take it seriously or not doesn't change the fact that it's still damn hard to read anything.
    - spacechild1 3y ago
      > Mind expanding and what it says exactly about contemporary web design? The same as when political satire is indistinguishable from actual politics. It means that the real things has sort of become a joke itself.
      - toastercat 3y ago
        I can agree that most modern web design is bad. I can also agree that the web design on tonsky's site is bad, but OK, I acknowledge that it is intentionally bad; so bad that it's unreadable. I had myself a chuckle now, and next time I see a link to tonsky's site, I'll click on it, chuckle, and immediately leave.

LordDragonfang 3y ago

It's deeply ironic that an article about dealing with text properly has images which are part of the article text and yet have no alt-text, rendering parts of the article unreadable in reader mode if the server is slow.

torgard 3y ago

Well, I thought it was fun.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

johnnyanmac 3y ago

>it's an even less readable "cute" flashlight js trick. I don't know why he thought this was a good idea. Thank god for Firefox reader mode. not even a proper flashlight. it updates when the mouse moves, so you're SOL if you scroll on desktop.