
How to Design for the Modern Web - caspervonb
https://medium.com/commitlog/how-to-design-for-the-modern-web-52eaa926bae2?source=friends_link&sk=74828fa5c51e051238ae1f986c72186d
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narrowtux
Does anybody actually think that developers build these kind of "features"
without a huge amount of self-loathing? They _know_ it's going to ruin the
experience but they have to do it because someone above them said so.

I also really hate how the article takes these obviously _good_ examples of
dark patterns and makes web developers feel bad for being web developers, just
because some web developers are made to employ these dark patterns.

~~~
scarygliders
Maybe this is an age or generational thing, but I, at 49 years of age, tell my
customers that if they want <thing which is guaranteed to annoy site users>,
then I'm usually quite blunt and tell them they really, really should think
again, as annoying their existing and potential customers isn't a good thing.

Like I say - perhaps it's a generational thing, perhaps it's just me, but I'm
not going to just passively go and do something which is going to make me feel
bitter and resentful.

Seriously, try it. Be honest and straighforward with the people you are doing
work for and tell them that <annoying web thing> is probably going to be
detrimental to the users of their site - and detrimental to the numbers of
users of their site. In my experience, the people you are doing the web work
for appreciate honestly felt, straightforward, blunt opinion and advice - and
the ones who don't appreciate it aren't worth becoming bitter, self-loathing,
and resentful for.

The very fact that one might start to feel bitter, self-loathing, and
resentful, is your mind's way of saying to you "now hang on a moment, you know
doing these things is wrong - you need to reconsider".

If more developers started to give some good, honest, and blunt feedback on
these dark patterns to the people who desire them to be included in their
sites, then that would in my opinion go a long way towards these dark patterns
being used less - although that probably won't stop the more cynical site
owners because they'd be more inclined to cynically use dark patterns anyway,
but hey at least you tried and also you might wish to reconsider doing work
for them in the first place, in favour of better clients.

~~~
narrowtux
I've been lucky enough not to be asked to implement stuff like this, but I
also don't work at a B2C business. Maybe that's the secret.

I've reached out to many sites though that what they're doing is distracting
and annoying but the only response I've ever gotten to that was that they
would hire and I could do it better. Yeah right, as if they'd let me remove
all the popups.

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thomasedwards
It’s so frustrating as a web developer because you know that it doesn’t have
to be this way. Friends that don’t work in web moan about how annoying the
web, but you know that it doesn’t have to be annoying. It can be good.

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kawsper
Posted on Medium :)

~~~
HelloNurse
Recognizing there is a problem and having the means to deal with it are two
very different things. Medium is worse than a proper personal website, but
better than nothing.

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AznHisoka
I wouldnt mind using Reddits mobile app if actually supported native browser
features like searching for a specific keyword in a page.

~~~
narrowtux
The good thing about reddit is that it has a good API, allowing for 3rd party
clients. There are a couple great ones for both iOS and ANDROID.

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nottorp
Obligatory xkcd: [https://xkcd.com/1174/](https://xkcd.com/1174/)

