Too often I encounter a website which takes over my browser and ruins my browsing experience. Sometimes I even see posts by new web developers looking for techniques to control a user’s browser and browsing behavior.
Here is my list of browser features every web developer should leave alone. It’s in no particular order, I just felt my website needed a top ten list.
- New Window
I see this everywhere and it drives me nuts. Target=”_new” was deprecated for a reason. If I want to open your link in a new window I will do so myself.
- Browser Size
I set my preferred size before I visited the website. The website should not try to change my browser size.
- Browser Position
If I want the browser half way down the screen, leave it there. There is no reason to reposition the browser window.
- Scrollbar Colors
I don’t see this in Firefox, but every so often when I use IE I see a website changing the scrollbar colors.
- Browser Elements
I set up my browser to have an address bar, links bar, and plug-ins of choice, please don’t try to hide them; I like them where they are.
- No Scroll
It’s extremely frustrating to know what I need is just off the screen, but the scrollbars are disabled. This one is usually paired with the mistake of using popup windows.
- No Resize
Another mistake usually paired with popup windows. If the content doesn’t fit I may prefer to resize the window then to constantly scroll, I don’t see how that is confusing.
- Shortcut Keys
The browser has many well defined and often used shortcut keys, don’t use JavaScript to disable them or change their behavior.
- Disabling Right Click
Most people do this to prevent others from viewing the source or copying content. Breaking News: It’s still possible and super easy. All the website has done is pissed off anyone who wants to use their browser. Heck, maybe the user didn’t even want to copy the content, but to open a link in a new window.
- Breaking the back button
There are certain JavaScript redirects which will break the back button. I think most are used to make sure the site is not inside a frame. Deal with the frame, if I want to get rid of it I know how, just leave my back button alone.
The website and content may belong to the website, but once it’s made public there is no point in trying to control a visitor’s behavior. These things may seem like good ideas, but they accomplish very little, and end up frustrating users a lot.