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> Native smooth scrolling with scroll-behavior: smooth But please limit how you use this; it’s not actually a good idea most of the time you might think of usi

> Native smooth scrolling with scroll-behavior: smooth But please limit how you use this; it’s not actually a good idea most of the time you might think of using it, and often has undesirable side-effects. > Native carousels with scroll-snap, But carousels are still a bad idea, so scroll-snap is of extremely limited legitimate application. > Scroll driven animations Pages that do this are normally improved by removing it.

afavour 3y ago
The point of the article isn’t to dictate what design elements people use, it’s to point out more user friendly ways of achieving those designs. Smooth scrolling is a great example. The native API allows a user to interrupt at any point. Most JS implementations are janky as all hell and users suffer. Scold design choices all you like but don’t expect to be listened to. Especially when you’re not providing any actual reasons why “carousels are still a bad idea”.
- chrismorgan 3y ago
  > Especially when you’re not providing any actual reasons why “carousels are still a bad idea”. It’s widely understood and documented that carousels are a bad idea, and plenty has been written about it. (I should clarify that the problems are with carousels as a way of presenting diverse widgets; as a way of presenting a collection of pictures about a single item, it can be acceptable.)
- ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
  > The point of the article isn’t to dictate what design elements people use, it’s to point out more user friendly ways of achieving those designs. If your goal is user friendliness, it would behoove you to use a design which is user friendly. Using a design which is user unfriendly and asking "how can I make this unfriendly design seem friendly" seems to be approaching the problem from the wrong direction: the design choice itself is the biggest contributor to user friendliness. Either you care more about yourself and your design choices than user friendliness, or vice versa, and both are totally valid options, but don't pick the former and claim the latter.
- gibbitz 3y ago
  Let's not forget the popularity of Instagram and tik tok both of which are basically carousels wrapped in an app. The problem with carousels is the expectation that they deliver more content than a simple visual (links, calls to action, paragraphs of text etc.). They're the content not the navigation.
542458 3y ago
> But carousels are still a bad idea I too dislike carousels… But at the same time the Amazon homepage prominently features a carousel, and I know that Amazon ruthlessly A/B tests homepage variants so the carousel presumably tests well… so I’m not sure that they’re actually “bad” in some sort of universal objective way.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- chrismorgan 3y ago
  I believe you’re significantly overstating how good and thorough a job they do of such things. Also it’s not the sort of thing that’s particularly conducive to A/B testing.
- swiftcoder 3y ago
  BigCompany A/B testing has this unfortunate tendency to demonstrate positive results to whatever you are testing. Like the A/B test that repeatedly demonstrated that after you buy a blender, your most likely purchase is another blender... (which Amazon still hasn't fixed nearly a decade later)
  - hinkley 3y ago
    Avoiding triggering buyer’s remorse is something high end consumer business understand and Amazon emphatically does not. I just bought a kayak, don’t advertise $3000 kayaks to me. Advertise dry bags and paddles and dry suits, you numpties.
    - Aerbil313 3y ago
      It’s because Amazon is an e-commerce store. They only win if you return and buy a more expensive one from another brand on Amazon. Brands however have a brand reputation to preserve, hence the need to avoid triggering buyer’s remorse.
  - lelanthran 3y ago
gibbitz 3y ago
So you don't need javascript for any of that anyway ;)
FireInsight 3y ago
Why is native smooth scrolling not a good idea most of the time? I usually add it at least right after implementing some TOC-style anchors.
- Zpalmtree 3y ago
  I don't like smooth scrolling. Why is the website forcing me to use it?
chupapimunyenyo 3y ago
Thanks for your opinion

afavour 3y ago

The point of the article isn’t to dictate what design elements people use, it’s to point out more user friendly ways of achieving those designs. Smooth scrolling is a great example. The native API allows a user to interrupt at any point. Most JS implementations are janky as all hell and users suffer. Scold design choices all you like but don’t expect to be listened to. Especially when you’re not providing any actual reasons why “carousels are still a bad idea”.

chrismorgan 3y ago
> Especially when you’re not providing any actual reasons why “carousels are still a bad idea”. It’s widely understood and documented that carousels are a bad idea, and plenty has been written about it. (I should clarify that the problems are with carousels as a way of presenting diverse widgets; as a way of presenting a collection of pictures about a single item, it can be acceptable.)
ImPostingOnHN 3y ago
> The point of the article isn’t to dictate what design elements people use, it’s to point out more user friendly ways of achieving those designs. If your goal is user friendliness, it would behoove you to use a design which is user friendly. Using a design which is user unfriendly and asking "how can I make this unfriendly design seem friendly" seems to be approaching the problem from the wrong direction: the design choice itself is the biggest contributor to user friendliness. Either you care more about yourself and your design choices than user friendliness, or vice versa, and both are totally valid options, but don't pick the former and claim the latter.
gibbitz 3y ago
Let's not forget the popularity of Instagram and tik tok both of which are basically carousels wrapped in an app. The problem with carousels is the expectation that they deliver more content than a simple visual (links, calls to action, paragraphs of text etc.). They're the content not the navigation.

542458 3y ago

> But carousels are still a bad idea I too dislike carousels… But at the same time the Amazon homepage prominently features a carousel, and I know that Amazon ruthlessly A/B tests homepage variants so the carousel presumably tests well… so I’m not sure that they’re actually “bad” in some sort of universal objective way.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
chrismorgan 3y ago
I believe you’re significantly overstating how good and thorough a job they do of such things. Also it’s not the sort of thing that’s particularly conducive to A/B testing.
swiftcoder 3y ago
BigCompany A/B testing has this unfortunate tendency to demonstrate positive results to whatever you are testing. Like the A/B test that repeatedly demonstrated that after you buy a blender, your most likely purchase is another blender... (which Amazon still hasn't fixed nearly a decade later)
- hinkley 3y ago
  Avoiding triggering buyer’s remorse is something high end consumer business understand and Amazon emphatically does not. I just bought a kayak, don’t advertise $3000 kayaks to me. Advertise dry bags and paddles and dry suits, you numpties.
  - Aerbil313 3y ago
    It’s because Amazon is an e-commerce store. They only win if you return and buy a more expensive one from another brand on Amazon. Brands however have a brand reputation to preserve, hence the need to avoid triggering buyer’s remorse.
- lelanthran 3y ago

gibbitz 3y ago

So you don't need javascript for any of that anyway ;)

FireInsight 3y ago

Why is native smooth scrolling not a good idea most of the time? I usually add it at least right after implementing some TOC-style anchors.

Zpalmtree 3y ago
I don't like smooth scrolling. Why is the website forcing me to use it?

chupapimunyenyo 3y ago

Thanks for your opinion