4 ms·

How to get less traffic and drive users away

19 points by ibudiallo 13y ago

pgrote 13y ago
Right click disabling is the killer for me. I use it to search on concepts or terms.
- ibudiallo 13y ago
  The problem with this is, it ruins the user experience yet it doesn't prevent copying.
- escaped_hn 13y ago
  What about injecting custom text into the clipboard via flash?
  - jff 13y ago
    This is even more infuriating. I think I saw it on Cracked.com before I realized their content is crap. You'd copy part of the article and it would automatically include something like "read more at cracked.com blah blah blah".
    - moepstar 13y ago
      That's probably the work of Tynt Tracer [1] - i've too used a while ago but yeah, even tho it does work to some extent (getting users to click on that link) it also angers them so i've abandoned that. [1] http://tynt.com/ http://tynt.com/
      - ibudiallo 13y ago
        I didn't know there is a name for that. Good to know.
- tomjen3 13y ago
  The only place where disabling right click makes sense is for games or an editor where you need to present your own right click menu. Don't do it on websites, or even worse, assume that any click on a link means open it -- ctrl + click should open it in a new tab, but too frequently doesn't.
PaulHoule 13y ago
huh?
wtvanhest 13y ago
I'd like to add, using http://qz.com http://qz.com, or Quartz to host content so that it can't be read on an Android device is pretty effective too.
- ibudiallo 13y ago
  I think the same thing was happening with medium.com, not sure if they fixed it. But On my phone i could not scroll down.
petercooper 13y ago
A few more mobile specific ones: 1) Not showing me the regular site when I'm using a high resolution tablet. I don't need or want something mobile optimized on an iPad. (At the very minimum though, allow us to switch back.) 2) Have a modal popup that says "This site is best used via our iPad app. Do you want to download it now?" whenever you visit it. 3) Disabling zoom.
- ibudiallo 13y ago
  The is an interesting thing with websites that have a mobile and desktop version. When you click on a link and it takes you to the mobile version, when you decide to switch to the desktop, it takes you to the homepage, and there is no way to find the article you were reading.
  - tankbot 13y ago
    And vice-versa[0] 0:http://xkcd.com/869/ http://xkcd.com/869/
jk215 13y ago
Having the back button refresh the current page instead of GOING BACK kills me.
- lotharbot 13y ago
  It's especially bad when the 404 page does it. I ran into this on ESPN during the NFL draft. Clicked some sort of analysis link, it was a 404. Tried to go back, the 404 page refreshed. I ran into several more 404 pages over the next 10 minutes or so, and eventually left for NFL.com.
- B-Con 13y ago
  I think that's usually the result of the previous page being a redirect, and the browser taking you back to the redirect page which then instantly, well, redirects you. I know this is a huge problem on mobile devices, often requiring you hit "back" twice quickly. Not sure how smart browsers are about skipping redirect pages in the "back" history. If the page is a 301 I think the browser omits it from the history, but if they're doing less elegant redirects (such as, ugh, JS) I don't know that the browser will pick up on it.
codegeek 13y ago
- having a mobile version that actually is non-functional (Try babiesrus store locator on a windows phone) and then automatically switching to the crappy mobile site (m.whatever.com) on mobile phone/ipad and not letting the user easily switch to the regular site since the mobile version sucks big time. - Having a semi-functional mobile version just to look cool. Hey I got this mobile version of my site but wait, don't have more than 50% of the functionality of the traditional site. Oops - Irritating modal pop-ups that don;'t have a close (x) button and on mobile phones, all the users sees is the darker foreground due to the pop up and cannot do anything else.
- rhizome 13y ago
  PLEASE INSTALL OUR AND APP AVAILABLE IN THE P STORE. WOULD YOU LIKE GO THERE NOW? (closing 'x' offscreen)
  - X-Istence 13y ago
    And worst part, not being able to "scroll" to the closing button because they disallowed zoom ...
- Zimahl 13y ago
  Worse: forcing you to the mobile site and when on it there's half the functionality and search doesn't return the same results. Are you not hitting the same API to search as the full site? Why wouldn't you?
pbreit 13y ago
I don't care for 1000+ pixel wide pages (like the OP's site). And why do all the CSS bootstraps have such lousy left margins? There should always be a least a little padding there.
manacit 13y ago
Having no left margin or padding like this site might do the trick too.
- ibudiallo 13y ago
  Got me there, but i fixed it :p
tomjen3 13y ago
If you press shift when you use your scroll-wheel you scroll horizontal. Apparently that isn't nearly as widely known as I thought.
- joe5150 13y ago
  I just did this (on FF 20) and it flipped through my history (scroll down = Back, scroll up = Forward). A heretofore unknown feature, but not the one you said it would be. ;)
  - tomjen3 13y ago
    Odd -- any chance you are on a MAC? I just opened github.com in a tiny window and used that feature to scroll horizontal (Chrome on win 7).
    - ericabiz 13y ago
      On a Mac, you can just two-finger scroll right to scroll right on a browser window. (Still doesn't excuse dumb developers who don't test on multiple browser widths, but it does make it easier to deal with them.)
    - joe5150 13y ago
      Nope, Windows Vista. FF Nightly also moves forward and back in the history with Shift + Scroll Wheel. Chrome Canary does what you say, though, with horizontal scrolling.
    - X-Istence 13y ago
      I'm on a Mac and holding shift scrolls horizontal...
danso 13y ago
- Disable right clicking I agree this is annoying but I don't think non-power users care. Opening up new windows is not an average user case for most sites. And users are getting used to navigating sites without right-click at all because, well, sites are getting used to users not having right-click access due to mobile and tablets. - SEO first, creative content never. These two things are not mutually exclusive, not even in a remote sense, I'd argue - Use DIVs for tabular data (drive developers away) Huh? Not sure what this refers to. Is it because tables-as-div are not as easy to copy-paste into Excel? I agree but again, I doubt non-power users care. The only people who would really care are the developers who actually have to implement the tableless solution. And even then, there are reasons to use divs (for a responsive design, for example)

19 points by ibudiallo 13y ago

pgrote 13y ago

Right click disabling is the killer for me. I use it to search on concepts or terms.

ibudiallo 13y ago
The problem with this is, it ruins the user experience yet it doesn't prevent copying.
escaped_hn 13y ago
What about injecting custom text into the clipboard via flash?
- jff 13y ago
  This is even more infuriating. I think I saw it on Cracked.com before I realized their content is crap. You'd copy part of the article and it would automatically include something like "read more at cracked.com blah blah blah".
  - moepstar 13y ago
    That's probably the work of Tynt Tracer [1] - i've too used a while ago but yeah, even tho it does work to some extent (getting users to click on that link) it also angers them so i've abandoned that. [1] http://tynt.com/ http://tynt.com/
    - ibudiallo 13y ago
      I didn't know there is a name for that. Good to know.
tomjen3 13y ago
The only place where disabling right click makes sense is for games or an editor where you need to present your own right click menu. Don't do it on websites, or even worse, assume that any click on a link means open it -- ctrl + click should open it in a new tab, but too frequently doesn't.

PaulHoule 13y ago

huh?

wtvanhest 13y ago

I'd like to add, using http://qz.com http://qz.com, or Quartz to host content so that it can't be read on an Android device is pretty effective too.

ibudiallo 13y ago
I think the same thing was happening with medium.com, not sure if they fixed it. But On my phone i could not scroll down.

petercooper 13y ago

A few more mobile specific ones: 1) Not showing me the regular site when I'm using a high resolution tablet. I don't need or want something mobile optimized on an iPad. (At the very minimum though, allow us to switch back.) 2) Have a modal popup that says "This site is best used via our iPad app. Do you want to download it now?" whenever you visit it. 3) Disabling zoom.

ibudiallo 13y ago
The is an interesting thing with websites that have a mobile and desktop version. When you click on a link and it takes you to the mobile version, when you decide to switch to the desktop, it takes you to the homepage, and there is no way to find the article you were reading.
- tankbot 13y ago
  And vice-versa[0] 0:http://xkcd.com/869/ http://xkcd.com/869/

jk215 13y ago

Having the back button refresh the current page instead of GOING BACK kills me.

lotharbot 13y ago
It's especially bad when the 404 page does it. I ran into this on ESPN during the NFL draft. Clicked some sort of analysis link, it was a 404. Tried to go back, the 404 page refreshed. I ran into several more 404 pages over the next 10 minutes or so, and eventually left for NFL.com.
B-Con 13y ago
I think that's usually the result of the previous page being a redirect, and the browser taking you back to the redirect page which then instantly, well, redirects you. I know this is a huge problem on mobile devices, often requiring you hit "back" twice quickly. Not sure how smart browsers are about skipping redirect pages in the "back" history. If the page is a 301 I think the browser omits it from the history, but if they're doing less elegant redirects (such as, ugh, JS) I don't know that the browser will pick up on it.

codegeek 13y ago

- having a mobile version that actually is non-functional (Try babiesrus store locator on a windows phone) and then automatically switching to the crappy mobile site (m.whatever.com) on mobile phone/ipad and not letting the user easily switch to the regular site since the mobile version sucks big time. - Having a semi-functional mobile version just to look cool. Hey I got this mobile version of my site but wait, don't have more than 50% of the functionality of the traditional site. Oops - Irritating modal pop-ups that don;'t have a close (x) button and on mobile phones, all the users sees is the darker foreground due to the pop up and cannot do anything else.

rhizome 13y ago
PLEASE INSTALL OUR AND APP AVAILABLE IN THE P STORE. WOULD YOU LIKE GO THERE NOW? (closing 'x' offscreen)
- X-Istence 13y ago
  And worst part, not being able to "scroll" to the closing button because they disallowed zoom ...
Zimahl 13y ago
Worse: forcing you to the mobile site and when on it there's half the functionality and search doesn't return the same results. Are you not hitting the same API to search as the full site? Why wouldn't you?

pbreit 13y ago

I don't care for 1000+ pixel wide pages (like the OP's site). And why do all the CSS bootstraps have such lousy left margins? There should always be a least a little padding there.

manacit 13y ago

Having no left margin or padding like this site might do the trick too.

ibudiallo 13y ago
Got me there, but i fixed it :p

tomjen3 13y ago

If you press shift when you use your scroll-wheel you scroll horizontal. Apparently that isn't nearly as widely known as I thought.

joe5150 13y ago
I just did this (on FF 20) and it flipped through my history (scroll down = Back, scroll up = Forward). A heretofore unknown feature, but not the one you said it would be. ;)
- tomjen3 13y ago
  Odd -- any chance you are on a MAC? I just opened github.com in a tiny window and used that feature to scroll horizontal (Chrome on win 7).
  - ericabiz 13y ago
    On a Mac, you can just two-finger scroll right to scroll right on a browser window. (Still doesn't excuse dumb developers who don't test on multiple browser widths, but it does make it easier to deal with them.)
  - joe5150 13y ago
    Nope, Windows Vista. FF Nightly also moves forward and back in the history with Shift + Scroll Wheel. Chrome Canary does what you say, though, with horizontal scrolling.
  - X-Istence 13y ago
    I'm on a Mac and holding shift scrolls horizontal...

danso 13y ago

- Disable right clicking I agree this is annoying but I don't think non-power users care. Opening up new windows is not an average user case for most sites. And users are getting used to navigating sites without right-click at all because, well, sites are getting used to users not having right-click access due to mobile and tablets. - SEO first, creative content never. These two things are not mutually exclusive, not even in a remote sense, I'd argue - Use DIVs for tabular data (drive developers away) Huh? Not sure what this refers to. Is it because tables-as-div are not as easy to copy-paste into Excel? I agree but again, I doubt non-power users care. The only people who would really care are the developers who actually have to implement the tableless solution. And even then, there are reasons to use divs (for a responsive design, for example)