I’m an Angry Person.

Posted on: , Under: Rant

Flickr adding dumb shit to my badge’s JS file - Notice how my Flickr is below where it should be? Yeah, I guess the guys at Flickr though it would be cute to add a 1px by 1px transparent gif into the badge’s javascript. And since I’ve style my photos to display at a certain width and height, and since I can’t edit the javascript manually, I’m stuck with it until they stop fucking around.

Myspace’s GOD AWFUL structure - I spent about an hour trying to edit my Myspace, and while it looks better than it did, I give up. Tom, you are a fucking asshole, and I hate your guts. Stop using tables, stop styling EVERYTHING YOU CAN FIND with span classes, and learn how to code cleanly and semantically without the use of inline style tags in your markup. Half of the line break tags are unenclosed with the other half ARE enclosed, some of the links aren’t escaped, and it looks like you let a 5 year old loose in your index file. Drink bleach.

Helvetica Neue as a main body font. - I love Helvetica Neue as much as the next font-obsessed designer. But the fact remains, that Helvetica Neue is NOT readable in small sizes. Not everyone uses a Mac, or a browser that antialiases text to smooth things out. And even WITH text-smoothing, it’s still hard to read and it looks like shit. Secondly, not everyone even HAS the font installed, so why use it to begin with if only a marginal number of your visitors are going to see it (and be irritated by it) in the first place? Stick to using the font on mastheads or at large sizes. Of course, we do have the option of using the Stylish plugin for Firefox to change the font, but a.) who has time for shit like that if you need information in a hurry, and b.) how many people really use Stylish? Stop being a fucking idiot and use a regular font face.

Google Ads and horrible placement. - Okay, I have no problem with you wanting to monetize your blog. I do think it’s pretty pointless unless you have a heavy traffic flow, or visitors stupid enough to click on shit that LOOKS like spammy ads in the first place. But whatever, it’s your website. It still infuriates me when websites claiming to focus on “usability” and “readability” slap Google ads above their content section. It’s visually distracting, disjointed and gets in the way of displaying your content, especially when you neglect to style it accordingly and it’s mashed against your text. If you have to use them, choose the inline display in the Adsense options, and put it in a discrete place, like your footer. The only thing your 16-iframed-Google ads make me want to do is leave your website and never return. Or go Adblock-happy, depending on my mood.

Black and white layouts aren’t unique or creative. - While it’s true that when showcasing your work to a potential client, it’s good to send a message of design nuetrality, to show them that you’re flexible in what you can do. You don’t have to slap 80pt Georgia with some black line breaks on a white background to be neutral. It’s all over the place, and it has never been effective or even mildly attractive. It’s not creative, visually appealing, or unique. Stop it.