Scrollbars. Ever heard of them? They’re pretty cool. Click and drag on a scrollbar and you can move content around in a scrollable content pane. I love that shit. Every day I am scrolling on my computer, all day long. But the scrollbars are getting smaller and this is increasingly becoming a problem. I would show you screenshots but they’re so small that even screenshotting them is hard to do. And people keep making them even smaller, hiding them away, its like they don’t want you to scroll! “Ah”, they say, “that’s what the scroll wheel is for”. My friend, not everyone can use a scroll wheel or a swipe up touch screen. And me, a happy scroll-wheeler, even I would like to quickly jump around some time.
I have neither dexterity nor hand control challenges and I still find it incredibly hard to grab those skinny scroll bars.
One additional design “feature” I really despise is auto hiding scroll bars. So then to visually see when I am I have to scroll up and down to bring it back.
And web designers that do that stupid scroll hijacking where scrolling “stops” and then things move around for a bit should be launched into the sun. It’s the most anti-UX design I’ve ever seen. It’s literally the same as temporarily causing your mouse cursor to move in the opposite direction of input and then calling it a “design feature”.
Imagine if each application on your computer arbitrarily changed up the direction your mouse cursor moves. It’s literally the same thing. Computer input should be 100% predictable and reliable. The instant you do that it makes the computer/program/website feel sluggish and inoperative.
Just more examples of modern designers creating shit to stay relevant.
I hate modern design. We had good design up until the mid-2000s, then it all started going to shit.
Back in the day, the guideline was to put useful information and links at the top of the page when it loads, so that people could read the important bits and follow the links they needed without having to scroll down. Then everyone started using the entire space on load for a stock marketing photo or video so you would always need to scroll to see anything useful. Then they added whitespace everywhere so you’d need to scroll more. Then they removed the scrollbars. And sometimes they make scrolling do unpredictable animations instead of scrolling. It has become self-indulgent design instead of functional.
Make America-Online Great Again!
…when people were saying “I hate modern design. We had good design up until the mid-1980s…”
…when people were saying “I hate modern design. We had good design up until the mid-1960s…”
…when people were saying “I hate modern design. We had good design up until the mid-1940s…”
…when people were saying “I hate modern design. We had good design up until the mid-1920s…”
Rinse, repeat. The past wasn’t always better, you were just younger. We just had different design problems in 2005.
Computer UI design is what is being discussed; not really pre-internet media.
What happened is that pro tools became available to unskilled, untalented, and unseasoned amateurs around 2000. I think what’s being criticized is the “web 2.0” trend that arose when every nincompoop with cracked copies of Adobe/Macromedia Suite(s) could produce and publish trash, as became sooooo easy and cheap. Whereas prior to this shift in technology, design had to be well-conceived and intentional because proofing and publishing was an expensive barrier to tom-fuckery by hobbyists.
e: spel
Wrong, but okay.
There is a trend of users lowering their standards so developers’ jobs are easier. It’s why we don’t get settings as often as we used to.
No, we don’t get settings because companies skimp out on engineers to actually build the backend, and Apple normalized not being able to customize your workflow so people accept it. It has very little to do with design trends.
You just described design trends then said they have very little to do with design trends.
If you can’t tell the difference between design trends and management trends, I don’t think you know as much as you think you do.
Scroll bar hiding/skinny scroll bars are for people who don’t use them.
Apple hides them by default because they expect you to use the trackpad/scroll pad(?) on the magic mouse.