Are Javascript libraries helping or hurting visitors?
I love the fancy whiz-bang features of javascript libraries as much as everyone else. I do however hate it when effects are used improperly. Remember when flash hit the web scene back in the mid 90’s or so? I seem to recall that just about every website had it’s logo spinning in 3D throughout some fancy, but useless skip intro splash page. Sadly I am now seeing javascript libraries being used in similar capacities.
Perhaps we need to stop for a moment to ask ourselves a few questions before implementing any particular effect or widget: Is this "thing" I am about to add to my site going to help my visitors or hurt them? Does it add value to the end user? Will it hurt them if it's not there? Will it confuse them if it is there?
In my own guerilla usability testing, (and in my personal experience) I have been to sites that have used some effect or widget simply because its neat and because it was available. Oftentimes with negative results. People will exclaim, "What the heck are these people doing" referring to the sites developers. "Thats just dumb" As a result, the effect or widget they added to enhance the experience actually weakened the experience.
Unfortunately, I think we are going full circle and repeating the same mistakes we made with technologies like flash and the skip intro how many years ago.You would think that we would have learned something from this and improved overall. When used correctly, all of these tools can add significantly to a users experience. However we need to make sure we do usability testing before rolling them out for real. As the saying goes: Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.
Tags: usability
1 comments so far ↓
I'm a little late to the party here (I've been meaning to respond to this since before the cfug meeting if that's any indication!)...
I think this kind of goes back to the saying "guns don't kill people, people do"
Javascript libraries in and of themselves are not harmful. In fact, they're incredibly useful and facilitate rapid development.
Unfortunately, it makes it easier for people with bad judgment to implement and realize their bad decisions. Even Comic Sans has its place (rare, but true), but put in the wrong hands (as it usually is) it can look very bad.
The people who make bad decisions will always make bad decisions. It might be the blink tag one day, gratuitous flash another day, and abused js libraries another day.
Leave a Comment