Review - Lousy Websites

[ErnieM]

I guess I'm getting grouchy in my old age, but internet websites are really ticking me off lately. It seems you can't find a place on the screen to park your cursor without some window popping up giving you totally useless information that you didn't ask for in the first place. Sometimes little windows appear and float across the screen - forcing you to wait until they drop off the other side before you can get back to what you were trying to do. Trying to Google a picture is a joke. The screen is filled with rather large icons (which are more than large enough for you to see the picture they represent). If you try to move your cursor to a particular icon, every icon you travel over becomes enlarged. It's as if they're saying "Here's an icon. If you click it you will get a bigger picture. In case you're not sure you want to see a bigger picture, here's a picture just slightly larger than the icon you might want to click if the slightly larger picture wasn't in the way."

It's not that I don't appreciate the Internet - I do. I just don't understand why any business would make their website so annoying as to turn off their potential customers. Just because the technology exists to do these things doesn't mean it's a good idea!:no:

End of Rant
Ernie

 

[Joe Scharle]

Turn on a popup blocker Ernie. You'll have to hold cntl to mouse click some sites because they try to open with a popup.
Lowered my AGGRAVATION quotient! :eusa_danc

 

[ErnieM]

Thanks Joe - I've already disabled pop-ups (with no exceptions). I still get them so I guess they're not technically pop-ups. I shudder to think what I would get if pop-ups weren't disabled. Maybe I just need a good nights sleep.

Ernie

 

[BKind2Anmls]

You might try installing an ad blocker or a script blocker. You would need to search for

"script blocker" your browser review

to find one that meets your needs.

 

[sushinutnc]

Parking on the scroll bar works nicely.... or leaving your window in window-mode, rather than maximized will give you plenty of desktop to park.

FWIW... I don't like the look of the new google image search page either... but it IS much less cluttered than before (all images... no text). I assume you're using IE, because I didn't seem to have any problem just gliding my mouse over the page in Firefox. I notice in Firefox the "popup" (zoom) delay is about twice as long as in IE, when you mouseover. In IE the popups are pretty fast.

 

[sushinutnc]

folks-- if you want to see what he's talking about, go to google image search... for example:

http://www.google.com/images?&q=harpsichord

they aren't browser popups... it's a zoom function they coded into the page when you mouseover an image.

 

[ErnieM]

Parking on the scroll bar works nicely.... or leaving your window in window-mode, rather than maximized will give you plenty of desktop to park.

FWIW... I don't like the look of the new google image search page either... but it IS much less cluttered than before (all images... no text). I assume you're using IE, because I didn't seem to have any problem just gliding my mouse over the page in Firefox. I notice in Firefox the "popup" (zoom) delay is about twice as long as in IE, when you mouseover. In IE the popups are pretty fast.

Actually, I am using Firefox - I guess I just glide slower than you:wsmile:. Listen, this isn't the worst problem in the world - I wish it was. My point is we're all going around in circles trying to circumvent these things when, IMHO, most of them are unnecessary in the first place. I didn't even mention how annoying it is to click on a woodworking video and have to sit thru a 30 second ad pushing liquid detergent. I put that product on my "DO NOT BUY" list. I like simple, uncluttered websites that give me the information I'm looking for and there are fewer and fewer of them. If you want to see a real mess log on to mlb.com and try to figure out how to view a game.

Ernie



Ernie

 

[Mtnman]

This seems to be a problem on TV also. Those pop ups should be illegal. I thought there were restrictions on the amount of time devoted to commercials. They already have 20 minutes out of every hour, and if you are paying for Direct TV you are paying for the commercials too. I just hit mute because they also turn up the volume. Seems to me this is an invasion of your privacy when they control the volume of your set!

 

[CrealBilly]

You might want to examine adblock plus It upsets a lot of WS Owners because adblock plus actually works and since the ads don't load in your browser the WS will loose some of it's ad revenue...

There was a quite heated discussion here on NCWW about adblock plus. One of the admins said there is a place in adblock plus to add filters or rules which allows ads to be displayed on a website if you like. The filters to allow ads on NCWW were also given in that thread - but I can't seem to locate the thread now.

 

[sawduster]

firefox actually has it's own ad blocker built in and I use it extensively . It works like a champ :icon_cheers You can customize sites you visit frequently to filter content
i would be as aggravated as you if not for that ......as a matter of fact, that aggravation is what helped me find it in the first place :gar-Bi

 

[cpw]

You might want to examine adblock plus It upsets a lot of WS Owners because adblock plus actually works and since the ads don't load in your browser the WS will loose some of it's ad revenue...

There was a quite heated discussion here on North Carolina Woodworker about adblock plus. One of the admins said there is a place in adblock plus to add filters or rules which allows ads to be displayed on a website if you like. The filters to allow ads on North Carolina Woodworker were also given in that thread - but I can't seem to locate the thread now.

Here a link to that thread: http://ncwoodworker.net/forums/f105/home-page-ads-not-wwing-related-29013/

There is information on the second page of the thread on how to create exceptions for NCWW. Be forewarned - it filters a lot of "commercial" content in addition to advertisements. I had problems with my browser not loading a chat button on one of our library vendor's sites and it was because of Ad Block Plus.

 

[ErnieM]

Here a link to that thread: http://ncwoodworker.net/forums/f105/home-page-ads-not-wwing-related-29013/

There is information on the second page of the thread on how to create exceptions for North Carolina Woodworker. Be forewarned - it filters a lot of "commercial" content in addition to advertisements. I had problems with my browser not loading a chat button on one of our library vendor's sites and it was because of Ad Block Plus.

It seems my rant has evolved into a "How To" eliminate ads. I don't mind ads as long as they don't smack me in the head every time I move my mouse. For example, the ads on this site are very unobtrusive and I appreciate their willingness to help support NCWW. My rant has more to do with websites that are so technically cluttered as to make browsing thru them a chore. It's as if the programmers are saying, "Look what I can do!" All they've really accomplished is a neat way to slow up a website and discourage their viewers from visiting again.

Ernie

 

[cpw]

It's as if the programmers are saying, "Look what I can do!" All they've really accomplished is a neat way to slow up a website and discourage their viewers from visiting again.

You're correct there. A wise friend once said, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." When I was doing web design I tried to always keep an end-user perspective. I would basically ask myself things like, "How would I feel about this if I was new to the site?" and "Does this help, or just clutter the screen?"

 

[BrianInChatham]

This won't help with the Google issue, but given the direction the thread's going this may be useful info for some. A really easy way to block a lot of unwanted banner ads etc. is to download a replacement hosts file. It's a file containing a list of known "spamming" type advertisers, malicious websites, etc. When a site tries to redirect your browser or put up an ad etc, if the address is on the list it's blocked, simple as that. The list is extremely comprehensive and is updated every few weeks, and you can add or remove other addresses if you like. I like this because it doesn't involve installing any 3rd party software and doesn't add any overhead to your system. Download and usage instructions here:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm