Ask HN: What is a techpet peeve of yours that no one else mentions?
tbh my answer is SMS. It is just email except it is short and insecure. Sorry if this question seems unoriginal.
12 comments
1. In Google Search, if you mouse over the first result in an attempt to click the second result, sometimes an animated section below the first result with related terms appears which I erroneously click instead of the second result. At first I thought this was a fluke. Then I though a browser extension was doing this. Then I tried to get it on "camera" (via screen record). And now I just use Bing.
2. Cookie banners everywhere. A standard protocol needs to be created.
3. Software subscriptions without a one time payment option.
4. Electron apps because building using native toolkits is to time consuming.
2. Cookie banners everywhere. A standard protocol needs to be created.
3. Software subscriptions without a one time payment option.
4. Electron apps because building using native toolkits is to time consuming.
I hate text web sites that "autoplay" their next piece of content. So when you reach the end of an article, the URL in your address bar spontaneously changes to a different URL, and instead of having reached the end of your article and the bottom of a page, you're instead suddenly at the beginning of a second article which you never intended to read...
CNN also does this with video reports. If you want to rewind to hear the end of the video -- you can't, because you're now instead watching an entirely different video.
CNN also does this with video reports. If you want to rewind to hear the end of the video -- you can't, because you're now instead watching an entirely different video.
Software getting confused by mismatched locale and language settings. I'm so used to interacting with computers in English that I find translations to my native language more distracting than helpful, but I still want my native date and time formats and keyboard layout. Windows 10 for a long time kept changing my input method to English, to match the system's language, but finally gave up trying to correct me around when 11 came out. Android apps keep forcing their translations on me based on my location, sometimes not even allowing me to change it at all, except for the only app that I actually do want translated, which instead keeps changing back to English to match the system's language. Just ask me on first launch and stick with it.
Websites that try to be smart. Because you are physically in country X they think it means that you are fluent in the language Y. Sometimes they make it really hard to change the language, or they let you change it but as soon as you click on a link it defaults back to the default language.
Sites assuming that anyone browsing on mobile is just passively browsing, and hiding any of the features that make them easier to navigate on desktop.
For instance, so many wikis remove things like category boxes and navigation bars on mobile, making it a chore to browse different related articles. They also seem to like hiding stuff like 'recent changes' too, as if knowing what changed since your last visit is something only desktop users have the need for.
And god help you if you want to actually contribute to many sites on mobile. That seems to be a complete afterthought for anything without a mobile app (and arguably a lot of those that do have one).
For instance, so many wikis remove things like category boxes and navigation bars on mobile, making it a chore to browse different related articles. They also seem to like hiding stuff like 'recent changes' too, as if knowing what changed since your last visit is something only desktop users have the need for.
And god help you if you want to actually contribute to many sites on mobile. That seems to be a complete afterthought for anything without a mobile app (and arguably a lot of those that do have one).
Making relatively common settings unable to be changed by administrators. For example, users cannot change the time zone in Brivo. Neither can administrators.
Not having a central place where the administrator can verify what the system thinks is the system time.
Reducing feature set when rolling out new backend that I didn't ask for.
Not having a central place where the administrator can verify what the system thinks is the system time.
Reducing feature set when rolling out new backend that I didn't ask for.
Twitter in general.
I never really liked it due to the 250 character limit (used to be 150) and people insisting that it is possible to have a meaningful discussion within this limitation. Sure, you can split your post into multiple messages but the design of the site encourages short responses so no real discussion will be happening.
I never really liked it due to the 250 character limit (used to be 150) and people insisting that it is possible to have a meaningful discussion within this limitation. Sure, you can split your post into multiple messages but the design of the site encourages short responses so no real discussion will be happening.
A bit of related trivia: Twitter was a service that only worked over SMS in the early days. The character limit was set at 140 since that was a length that could safely work with all carriers, as well as leave enough room for your Twitter handle.
The shortness of messages was also a perfect fit for what early users of Twitter were doing: answering the question of "What are you doing?"
There was a trend when Twitter began of adjusting your AIM "status" message to reflect what you were doing, or what music you were listening too (there were scripts that automated this for you).
As an early adopter of Twitter, I can recall that people started using it in similar ways. One of the first Twitter messages that I received in the early days was from @ev saying "Peeing."
I think it's fair to say things haven't changed much.
The shortness of messages was also a perfect fit for what early users of Twitter were doing: answering the question of "What are you doing?"
There was a trend when Twitter began of adjusting your AIM "status" message to reflect what you were doing, or what music you were listening too (there were scripts that automated this for you).
As an early adopter of Twitter, I can recall that people started using it in similar ways. One of the first Twitter messages that I received in the early days was from @ev saying "Peeing."
I think it's fair to say things haven't changed much.
Commerce sites displaying prices in $ amounts but not showing if it's US$ or another currency. Inexcusable for big sites that know the users location, delivery address, card location etc. Looking at you Amazon.
Username/password. Just let me put in a key and be done.
- Modal popups
- Unnecessary animations
- Cookie banners (someone fix this)
- cluttered websites
- back button hijacking
It's getting harder and harder to type anything. If I manage to get a cursor to an edit box I have to hurry before another program steals the focus.
Focus creates so many problems. The one the always gets me is when an authentication code gets sent to my phone. I go back to the page to enter that authentication code -- carefully poking each digit on my keyboard -- only to discover that none of the digits were entered into the web page, because you need to first click on the digit-entering window, or whatever you type isn't accepted.
And there's one site where when I pull up a new web page and try to scroll down to read the first line of its article -- I can't, because focus for some reason is on their sidebar.
And there's one site where when I pull up a new web page and try to scroll down to read the first line of its article -- I can't, because focus for some reason is on their sidebar.
Large sites that don't offer good, advanced search/filtering options.
FB is one of them.