Some web developers tend to believe that the more control they maintain over the user’s experience on a website, the better the experience will be. On the other hand, sometimes, it is the client that insists on certain gimmicky “features” in order to make what, in their minds, is a better website. The more control, the better - right? Ugh.
Websites should gently guide the user experience. It is the job of the web developer to keep the experience from being hijacked and explain these reasons to the client. It is the job of the client to understand why it is essential to guide the user experience instead of commandeering it. Here are 5 annoying ways that websites spit in the face of this mentality by hijacking the user experience:
1. Automatically Resizing the Browser
This is one of the most annoying ways to hijack the user experience. Anytime I visit a site and find that my browser has been resized by some sort of Javascript code, I immediately leave that site. Usually, this “feature” is requested by clients that want their users to be engulfed by the entire site - usually clients that are too proud of their work. The problem today is that users normally have several sites open in tabs and by hijacking the browser and resizing it to what you think is best, it screams that you are more important than anything else on their computer. Leave the browser size alone.
2. Automatically Playing Music
Nothing is worse than enjoying the new Coldplay album in iTunes and then visiting a website that automatically starts playing music that you never asked for. Now I have Coldplay and some cheesy trance music mixed together, polluting the musical atmosphere. I equate this to pulling up next to someone at a stop light that has music blaring, windows down, with no regard to anyone else in earshot. Unless you are a band or a record label (in which case I would still not recommend it, but at least it makes sense), do not automatically play any music even if you have a way for the user to stop it. A nice opt-in music player is the way to go. Let the user choose what comes through their speakers.
3. Automatically Playing Video
This goes hand-in-hand with automatically playing music. Unless the user expects to see a video that automatically plays, do not hijack the experience. For example, if the user clicks a link reading, “See a funny video,” and this link takes them to another page with the video, it would be okay to autoplay the video. Other than that, allow the user to choose when to play the video.
4. Making Links Open in New Windows
This is one hijacking technique that can be debatable. Users are very familiar with the back button on the browser - Heck, even Firefox now has an enlarged back button to signify hierarchy over the other buttons in the top interface. However, many times, clients feel that if a user clicks on a link to another site, they have essentially lost that user. Solution? Open all external links in a new window. However, this usually does more harm than good. More advanced users know how to use a back button, so if they wish to go back to the site, they can simply use this knowledge and hit the back button. Similarly, these users are also accustomed to having links open in new windows. Therefore, they know how to close a window to get back to the site if the link opened in that fashion. On the other hand, a user without much experience may not realize that a new window has opened when a link is clicked. Thus, when they want to go back to the original site, they may click on the disabled back button - becoming frustrated with this unexpected turn of events. Play it safe. Just allow links to work the way links were meant to work. Don’t force a link to open in a new window.
5. Popover Ads
These are becoming more and more popular. I am sure that most users are familiar with them - they are the ads that pop over the rest of the content on the page until you click the (often hidden) close button/link. Again, this is hijacking the user experience because the user expects one thing and receives another. When clicking to read an article, users want to read the article (novel concept, I know). Users don’t want to play the “betcha can’t figure out how to close this ad” game in order to get to the content. Banner ads are bad enough - don’t cover the content with annoying popover ads.
All in all, just be mindful of and respect your users. Keep away from things that force an experience. Always give the user a choice and strategically guide them through an experience. Your website will be better for it and your users will stick around longer.
Subscribe to the Anthology blog to get future posts or check out Building Websites With Effective Communication.
