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User In Yer Face, a worst-practise UI experiment (2018)

362 points| onion2k | 2 years ago |userinyerface.com | reply

113 comments

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[+] mattkevan|2 years ago|reply
Often thought about designing a print magazine with the same values as a web publication:

* Agree to all sorts of scary things to take off the plastic wrapping

* Peel off multiple big stickers on every page

* Big heavy adverts that overlap the content and weigh pages down

* Built-in Tile/Airtag to track location

* Chumboxes for other magazines at the bottom of each article

...etc

[+] jjbinx007|2 years ago|reply
Recreate the Amazon experience in a store by asking for their name so you can show them different prices and offers, then write down everything the shopper looks at, adds to their basket, and after they've paid sell their information to advertisers so they will see adverts for the lawnmower they've just bought for the next few days.
[+] Waterluvian|2 years ago|reply
This sounds like a local “newspaper” that’s 90% ads.

I’ve got one that fully identifies as a newspaper but there isn’t even a single article on the front page.

[+] paulmooreparks|2 years ago|reply
> Big heavy adverts that overlap the content and weigh pages down

PC Magazine, and other similar mags in the 90's/00's, was literally like this. I used to spend several minutes ripping the thick cardboard ads from every issue before trying to read it. At least web sites don't give me paper cuts.

[+] danparsonson|2 years ago|reply
Excellent idea - and every time you try to put it down for a moment a hidden spring triggers and it flies up off the table and into your face
[+] p1mrx|2 years ago|reply
> Big heavy adverts that overlap the content and weigh pages down

A lot of magazines have a rip-out subscription card like that.

[+] illwrks|2 years ago|reply
Pickup an issue of Wallpaper, if they're still around.... A design magazine with cover to cover advertising and the occasional bit of editorial content. The advertising is curated and not so in-your-face but it's advertising none the less.
[+] gs17|2 years ago|reply
It should come with free cookies wrapped in consent notices.

> * Agree to all sorts of scary things to take off the plastic wrapping

Wouldn't it just be that one page (not visible without opening it, of course) has the terms and conditions you inherently agreed to by reading the cover?

[+] troymc|2 years ago|reply
Also a CD-ROM from AOL!
[+] atorodius|2 years ago|reply
That‘d be a fun art project imo
[+] AlecSchueler|2 years ago|reply
And then give it away for free of course!
[+] isp|2 years ago|reply
Related - "Engineers are competing who creates the worst UI on Reddit" - https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755496852475906

I particularly like:

- https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755496852475906 - "Enter your phone number"

- https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755532394889219 - "Volume control"

- https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755789313069057 - "Checkbox with a 50% success rate"

[+] SimonPStevens|2 years ago|reply
Oh the irony of examples of bad UI being posted on twitter where I just get half a UI loading with spinners and can't see anything.
[+] RobotToaster|2 years ago|reply
The QR code one could be made 1000% more annoying by making it one of those slider puzzles.
[+] avereveard|2 years ago|reply
Loved the placeholder that you have to delete, that's a classic

The form field didn't reset to default values when submitting something that doesn't pass validation, that's probably a little too convenient.

[+] Clamchop|2 years ago|reply
Jeeze do I ever hate that.

Also password or bank account fields that disable pasting. Just awful.

[+] mellosouls|2 years ago|reply
Brilliant website!

Previous extensive discussions fwiw:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27635310 (2021)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20344565 (2019)

[+] thih9|2 years ago|reply
(mild spoiler alert) It took me 00:06:20 to complete and I enjoyed it a lot. I especially liked the ambiguous form state; I was never sure which part of the form is active or has been selected. I appreciate that it didn't feel needlessly unfair; e.g. when I accidentally clicked a "select all" button that undid all my work, there was also an "unselect all" button within reach.

Loosely related: "The worst volume control UI in the world", https://uxdesign.cc/the-worst-volume-control-ui-in-the-world... .

[+] ra1n|2 years ago|reply
The send to bottom button making the dialog go down slowly was so hilarious !
[+] codeulike|2 years ago|reply
that got me too. The very slow speed of it
[+] wizofaus|2 years ago|reply
The ultimate Turing test? I'm willing to bet not even ChatGPT-11 will have the sheer boneheaded level of determination only a human could ever achieve...
[+] pedro_hab|2 years ago|reply
The pw really stressed me, I checked the source code to find what a valid pw looked like.

Pretty cool code btw, it has a rule array that with the error msgs, very easy to follow even tho it was webpacky.

Then I realized the errors were displayed at the bottom of the page.

[+] alphabetter|2 years ago|reply
4'17 mostly because I was laughing so hard.

The captcha with the hononyms and the selection boxes where you don't expect them is genius.

[+] a13o|2 years ago|reply
This is what my nightmares are like. I have to do something simple like fill out a form or unlock a door, and everything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong
[+] titzer|2 years ago|reply
Getting there! It needs to completely randomize itself about halfway through your workflow. And more ratings! Don't forget to like us and give us five stars. About the exact moment you are ready to finish.
[+] trizoza|2 years ago|reply
Love this! There used to be a similar site on HN some time ago, something in a sense "How I see internet these days" and endless pop-ups kept on annoying you. Anyone remembers that?
[+] Mistletoe|2 years ago|reply
This really doesn’t seem that different from most 2023 websites.
[+] adhesive_wombat|2 years ago|reply
I literally was unable to purchase something from Currys on my phone, it was so bogged down in JS madness that it just didn't work. It would only work on my computer, and then only in Chromium (the payment flow just stopped loading after entering the card details on Firefox). When I did manage to place the order, the payment was processed twice, so that white loading screen in Firefox did so something. When I picked it up, I was told that they can't process online returns, I would have to take the extra one away, arrange a return online and then bring it back.
[+] jollyllama|2 years ago|reply
You are, of course, exaggerating a bit for rhetorical effect, but it is indeed too close to home. The bulk of my time was spent grappling with things that frequently give me a hassle on real websites.

The dialog box

The strenuous password requirements

Especially the "select all pictures of" bit. Anyone who has tried browsing with a proxy can confirm.

[+] _joel|2 years ago|reply
Wow, those timers are fear inducing
[+] sergiomattei|2 years ago|reply
Seven minutes. The most aggravating seven minutes of my life.
[+] dheera|2 years ago|reply
The site actually crashed Chrome as soon as I uploaded an file, to the point where even mouse clicks on the address bar or other tabs wouldn't work. I didn't think that was supposed to be possible. I guess we can dig into the code and figure out how to crash peoples' browsers with a website?

@ChromeDevTeam Your bug reporting process is too complicated so I'm just leaving this here on the internet for you to find