7 ms·

Aside from this being about design and not HTML5, is anyone else not surprised they didn't include "550 social +1, like, tweet, twat buttons"? Look at that web

by cscheid 14y ago

Aside from this being about design and not HTML5, is anyone else not surprised they didn't include "550 social +1, like, tweet, twat buttons"? Look at that website: there's a social banner, a social footer, a social sidebar, animated gifs for ads. Make that 15 lousy web design trends.

phlyingpenguin 14y ago
This is exactly what I was thinking after dismissing the gigantic "Join FREE as a bronze member..." popup at the bottom of the screen. -- snip --: Lame pop-ups I’ve never used this site before, so immediately asking me to create a free account is absolutely pointless, and more so when the pop-up does not automatically disappear when I ignore it.
- MiguelHudnandez 14y ago
  A screenshot of the hypocrisy: http://i.imgur.com/jDLT5V4.png http://i.imgur.com/jDLT5V4.png
nicholassmith 14y ago
I was about to come and mention the same thing. On a 1440x900 monitor I was losing about the bottom 6th of my browser just to an obnoxious signup bar. Maybe they should take a note from the HTML5 and Javascript revolution and have it auto-hide after a period of time.
- Mahn 14y ago
  "That's ok, we'll just make it up for it with a 12px font-size"
moe 14y ago
I keep wondering: Does anyone actually use these social buttons? I tried a few times but the experience has always been so terrible and inconsistent that I've long reverted to simply sharing the good old copy/paste way.
- bobsy 14y ago
  I have a big screen and I didn't see any of the social ad's or even the pop up at the bottom. It was only going back and actually opening my eyes that I noticed it. I think this is why such buttons are so ineffective. They have been used so badly for so long a lot of people just completely ignore them. Its a bit like ad's on the side of pages. A lot of people won't even register they are there.
  - jackmoore 14y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_blindness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_blindness
- Mahn 14y ago
  I guess the social buttons are a little bit like ads on Google: we don't use them, we don't know anybody who uses them, but they are somehow used.
- dizzystar 14y ago
  The answer is... idk, really, but I do know why the social buttons are often on the left side and are in a "fixed" div: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/amd-3600-social-sharing-increase/ http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/amd-360...
- Cthulhu_ 14y ago
  > I keep wondering: Does anyone actually use these social buttons? The suppliers of said social buttons do; every time you see one while you're logged into FB / G+ / Twitter, a hit of you visiting that site is registered at said parties, and they can all, thanks to the prevalence of these sharing buttons, track your internet usage.
  - jakub_g 14y ago
    This should be regulated somehow (yeah, I know, I sound like an 19th century guy). But probably lobbyist won't give up on that easily. I have disabled all that crap in my adblock, but there are millions of people who are not that savvy / aware etc. My friend from Germany told me that in some (but not all) the pages, there are dummy social buttons loaded by default, you have to "enable" them. Try any article at [1]. It actually displays grayed placeholders only [2], and things are fetched from G/T/FB only when you click it - you can see in HTTP console. [1] http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de [2] http://i.imgur.com/hkQXEiX.png http://i.imgur.com/hkQXEiX.png
brewdad 14y ago
I must be completely jaded by this point. I had to go back and look at the site again. My mind had completely blocked out the left sidebar and the footer. This crap is so common that I don't even notice it anymore.
- lifeisstillgood 14y ago
  yes ! I looked at the join thing at the bottom and actually felt it slip out of my mind into the bin of stuff to ignore on the web.
patrickskim 14y ago
Personally I'd rather look at their "bad" example sites than this crap. "Share", "SIGNUP NOW", "GET A FREE EBOOK" Bullshit they have plastered everywhere. How do they get the nerve to talk about UX? If you live in a glass house...
gadders 14y ago
I can think of plenty of websites that are crying out for a "twat" button.
- imissmyjuno 14y ago
  Such as the parent link of this post…
niggler 14y ago
I'm being idealistic when saying this, but I really hope over the next few years that bloggers stop adding social links to sites. I don't doubt major sites like CNN will continue to flood pages with links, but it would be nice for the content generators to stop using them.
- eksith 14y ago
  Social links are anti-social. If you really think about it, these are about taking away the interraction between people as people and instead, they funnel the content toward aggregation and mere consumption. That critical link between content creator and visitor is buffered with other rubbish so meaningful feedback is watered down.
nexox 14y ago
To add to that list, I viewed the page on my (rather slow) phone, and my User Agent wasn't sufficient to get me to a mobile version of the page (assuming one exists.) That dismissable footer covered half my screen, and the site ran so slowly that I was entirely unable to get it to dismiss. And here I thought that relying on a browser's User Agent to make a page usable was bad form.
dkersten 14y ago
Their "join free" footer at the bottom is a really annoying trend IMHO. It takes up valuable content space and gets in the way. The more intrusive and annoying those popups and bars are, the less likely I am to ever actually join. I guess it must work on other people though, unfortunately...
- waylandsmithers 14y ago
  that's what the firefox nuke anything extension was created for :)

by cscheid 14y ago

phlyingpenguin 14y ago

This is exactly what I was thinking after dismissing the gigantic "Join FREE as a bronze member..." popup at the bottom of the screen. -- snip --: Lame pop-ups I’ve never used this site before, so immediately asking me to create a free account is absolutely pointless, and more so when the pop-up does not automatically disappear when I ignore it.

MiguelHudnandez 14y ago
A screenshot of the hypocrisy: http://i.imgur.com/jDLT5V4.png http://i.imgur.com/jDLT5V4.png

nicholassmith 14y ago

I was about to come and mention the same thing. On a 1440x900 monitor I was losing about the bottom 6th of my browser just to an obnoxious signup bar. Maybe they should take a note from the HTML5 and Javascript revolution and have it auto-hide after a period of time.

Mahn 14y ago
"That's ok, we'll just make it up for it with a 12px font-size"

moe 14y ago

I keep wondering: Does anyone actually use these social buttons? I tried a few times but the experience has always been so terrible and inconsistent that I've long reverted to simply sharing the good old copy/paste way.

bobsy 14y ago
I have a big screen and I didn't see any of the social ad's or even the pop up at the bottom. It was only going back and actually opening my eyes that I noticed it. I think this is why such buttons are so ineffective. They have been used so badly for so long a lot of people just completely ignore them. Its a bit like ad's on the side of pages. A lot of people won't even register they are there.
- jackmoore 14y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_blindness http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner_blindness
Mahn 14y ago
I guess the social buttons are a little bit like ads on Google: we don't use them, we don't know anybody who uses them, but they are somehow used.
dizzystar 14y ago
The answer is... idk, really, but I do know why the social buttons are often on the left side and are in a "fixed" div: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/amd-3600-social-sharing-increase/ http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/split-testing-blog/amd-360...
Cthulhu_ 14y ago
> I keep wondering: Does anyone actually use these social buttons? The suppliers of said social buttons do; every time you see one while you're logged into FB / G+ / Twitter, a hit of you visiting that site is registered at said parties, and they can all, thanks to the prevalence of these sharing buttons, track your internet usage.
- jakub_g 14y ago
  This should be regulated somehow (yeah, I know, I sound like an 19th century guy). But probably lobbyist won't give up on that easily. I have disabled all that crap in my adblock, but there are millions of people who are not that savvy / aware etc. My friend from Germany told me that in some (but not all) the pages, there are dummy social buttons loaded by default, you have to "enable" them. Try any article at [1]. It actually displays grayed placeholders only [2], and things are fetched from G/T/FB only when you click it - you can see in HTTP console. [1] http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de [2] http://i.imgur.com/hkQXEiX.png http://i.imgur.com/hkQXEiX.png

brewdad 14y ago

I must be completely jaded by this point. I had to go back and look at the site again. My mind had completely blocked out the left sidebar and the footer. This crap is so common that I don't even notice it anymore.

lifeisstillgood 14y ago
yes ! I looked at the join thing at the bottom and actually felt it slip out of my mind into the bin of stuff to ignore on the web.

patrickskim 14y ago

Personally I'd rather look at their "bad" example sites than this crap. "Share", "SIGNUP NOW", "GET A FREE EBOOK" Bullshit they have plastered everywhere. How do they get the nerve to talk about UX? If you live in a glass house...

gadders 14y ago

I can think of plenty of websites that are crying out for a "twat" button.

imissmyjuno 14y ago
Such as the parent link of this post…

niggler 14y ago

I'm being idealistic when saying this, but I really hope over the next few years that bloggers stop adding social links to sites. I don't doubt major sites like CNN will continue to flood pages with links, but it would be nice for the content generators to stop using them.

eksith 14y ago
Social links are anti-social. If you really think about it, these are about taking away the interraction between people as people and instead, they funnel the content toward aggregation and mere consumption. That critical link between content creator and visitor is buffered with other rubbish so meaningful feedback is watered down.

nexox 14y ago

To add to that list, I viewed the page on my (rather slow) phone, and my User Agent wasn't sufficient to get me to a mobile version of the page (assuming one exists.) That dismissable footer covered half my screen, and the site ran so slowly that I was entirely unable to get it to dismiss. And here I thought that relying on a browser's User Agent to make a page usable was bad form.

dkersten 14y ago

Their "join free" footer at the bottom is a really annoying trend IMHO. It takes up valuable content space and gets in the way. The more intrusive and annoying those popups and bars are, the less likely I am to ever actually join. I guess it must work on other people though, unfortunately...

waylandsmithers 14y ago
that's what the firefox nuke anything extension was created for :)