In this week's Design and Usability Tactics e-newsletter, Jim Kukral listed Web tricks that he encourages you retire (if you haven't already).
What so-called stupid Web tricks does your development shop still use? If you are using some of these tricks, how does your site benefit from them? What Web tricks do you think developers overuse?
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I recently used a scrolling marquee (ticker-tape text)on a website that I designed and maintain for a small horse farm. The site is small and the user base is not always up-to-date with the latest plugin's etc. I posted the marquee for a brief period of time in order to bring attention to an upcoming event. Once the event was over, the marquee was taken down. I used the marquee as an attention getter. Also it was quick and easy to set up. Anyway, I think this "stupid web trick" can be useful, if used sparingly and for the right reasons.
Did some Javascript to create falling kanji that looks like the falling stuff in "The Matrix". This site was for a web contest and no one else has done this that I'm aware of. It doesn't necessarily add to our website, but it ended up helping our site get "Best use of Technology". That, and we also made a game in Javascript that uses fake OOP. If yall wanna look at the site its at http://www.studentwebcontest.com/2003/revenge/default.html Enjoy.
Giving the user the ability to change background colour (Canadian spelling) as well as foreground colour can be very helpful for those with sight difficulties. What is useful background/foreground contrast for some may be very muddy or impossible to read for others.
Most security concious users now-a-days block java, scripts and cookies from a sense of self preservation. There is nothing more frustrating than a web site that uses gratuitous scripts and cookies for no good reason and that just die without warning if the scripts/cookies are blocked. Then it is up the user to rollback their security to try and find the point at where things start working again. How many can be bothered to do that if they're not highly motivated ?
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Web dev and design tricks
What so-called stupid Web tricks does your development shop still use? If you are using some of these tricks, how does your site benefit from them? What Web tricks do you think developers overuse?
If you aren't already subscribed to the Design and Usability Tactics e-newsletter, visit our e-newsletter subcenter to sign up for this free TechMail today:
http://builder.com.com/techmails.jhtml?repID=u001