What bugs me on the web

2013 is nearly upon us, and the web has come a very long way in the 17+ years I’ve been a netizen. And yet, even though we’ve made so many advances, it sometimes feels like we’ve been stagnant, or worse, regressed in some cases.

Each and every web developer out there should have a long, hard think about how the web has (d)evolved in their lifetime and which way we want to head next. There’s an awful lot happening at the moment: web 2.0, HTML 5, Flash’s death-throes, super-mega-ultra tracking cookies, EU cookie regulation nonsense, microdata, cloud fun, … I could go on all day. Needless to say: it’s a mixed bunch.

In any event, here’s a brief list of 3 things that bug me on the web.

Usability has long been the web’s sore thumb, and in spite of any number of government-sponsored usability certification programmes over the year, people still don’t seem to give a rat’s arse. Websites are still riddled with nasty drop down menus that only work with a mouse. Sometimes they’re extra nasty by virtue of being ajaxified. At least Flash menus are finally going the way of the dinosaur.

Pro tip: every single bloody link on your web site should have a working HREF, so people can use it without relying on click handlers, mice, javascript and so people can open the bloody thing in a new tab without going through hell and back.

Bonus points: make your links point to human-readable URLs.

Languages, you’re doing it wrong

The web is no longer an English-only or US-only playing field, and companies all over are starting to cotton on to this fact. What they have yet to realise, however, is that people don’t necessarily speak the language you think they do. If you rely on geolocation data to serve up translated content: stop. You’re doing it wrong. The user determines the language. Believe it or not, people do know which language(s) they speak.

Geolocation, for starters, isn’t an exact science. Depending on the kind of device this can indeed be very accurate. Or very much not. Proxies, VPNs, Onion Routers etc can obviously mislead your tracking. Geolocation tells you nothing. It doesn’t tell you why that person is there (maybe they’re on holiday?). It also doesn’t tell you what language is spoken there. This might be a shock to some people, but some countries have more than one official language. Hell, some villages do. Maybe you can find this data somewhere, and correlate it with the location, but you’d be wrong to. Language is a very sensitive issue in some places. Get it right, or pick a sensible default and make clear that it was a guess. Don’t be afraid to ask for user input.

Pro tip: My favourite HTTP header: Accept-Language. Every sensible browser sends this header with every request. In most cases, the default is the browser’s or OS’s language. Which is nearly always the user’s first language, and when it’s not, at least you know the user understands it well enough to be able to use a browser..

Bonus points: Seriously, use Accept-Language. If you don’t, you’re a dick.

Clutter is back

Remember how, back in 1999, we all thought Google looked awesome because it was so clean & crisp and didn’t get in your face and everyone copied the trend? Well, that seems to have come to an end.
Here’s Yahoo in 1997. (I love how it has an ad for 256mb of memory.)
Here’s Yahoo now.

The 1997 version was annoying to use (remember screen resolutions in the 90s? No? You’re too young to read this, go away) because it was so cluttered.
The 2012 version is worse and makes me want to gouge my eyes out.

Even Google is getting all in your face these days, with search-as-you-type and whatnot. Bah. DuckDuckGo seems to be the exception (at least as far as search engines go). It offers power without wagging it in your face.

Pro tip: don’t put a bazillion things on your pages. Duh.

2013 Wishlist

My web-wishlist for 2013 is really quite simple: I want a usable web. Not just people with the latest and greatest javascript-enabled feast-your-eyes-on-this devices. For everyone. Including those who use text-to-speech, or the blind, or people on older devices. Graceful degradation is key to this. So please, when you come up with a grand feature, think about what we might be giving up on as well. Don’t break links. Don’t break the back button. Don’t break the web.

— Elric