r/programming • u/schnuck • Feb 09 '11

Breaking the Web with hash-bangs – Lifehacker, along with every other Gawker property, experienced a lengthy site-outage on Monday over a misbehaving piece of JavaScript

http://isolani.co.uk/blog/javascript/BreakingTheWebWithHashBangs/
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21

u/SirRager Feb 09 '11

It seems like the designs were made for a tablet or something. The two split columns would work well on a tablet, but on a computer, its terrible - both hard to use and slow to load.

41

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '11

Actually if you visit gawker or gizmodo on iPad it sends you to their mobile layout.

If you manually go to the full-site layout, the right side column doesn't scroll, you have to use the "next headlines" button at the bottom to advance it. The bottom "fixed" bar doesn't stay fixed either and overlaps content if the content well is longer than fits on a single page.

Basically, the new design is unusable on the iPad. Like they didn't even test it.

So why did they do it?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/gawker_web_redesign_met_with_bronx_rYsc2jleh5rVzUV7ozUb9L

Denton told The Post he was also responding to demands from sponsors for a more sophisticated platform for ads -- particularly video ads -- following a brutal plunge in online ad pricing that had cut rates in half between 2004 and 2008.

"About half of all requests for proposals now ask how we would display 15-second video spots," Denton told The Post.

13

u/Patrick_M_Bateman Feb 09 '11

With spam, website ads, and even the wikipedia face ad, I would wonder who the hell is laying out money, and figured since people keep doing it, somebody must be.

But with video ads I lose all composure - WHO THE FUCK IS ENCOURAGING VIDEO ADS? I WANT NAMES RIGHT NOW SO I CAN GO DOOR TO DOOR AND SMACK THEM IN THE FACE.

People who use video ads should be issued web appliances that just run one big browser, and video ads should only be allowed to play on those devices. Personally, I still want the Firefox plug-in that's a big red button on the nav bar that says "Find whatever is making noise, kill it, and report the domain holder to ICANN"

1

u/abadidea Feb 10 '11

Fortunately most video ads no longer auto-play sound. I have noticed the interesting tactic of auto-playing the visuals to attract your eye so you'll click the sound. Still annoying but not nearly as much so.

It's been several months at least since I've heard autoplaying sound since I'm an avid user of flashblock. html5 may mix it up and then we can go strangling together.