UKC

Is anyone else driven mad by modern web pages? The Independent is a prime example. You can't read a simple article without the text whizzing about as videos pop-up, the adverts that chase you around the screen make your eyes go funny, and it doesn't matter how much bandwidth you have the internet doesn't get quicker because they just fill it with more crap.

When you add Windows 8 on a touchscreen laptop into the equation, where you also have to contend with menus flying in left, right and centre, inadvertently touching adverts as they move (or more to the point, you can't scroll because there's no spare space on the screen), different screen flying in from the left...

What a carefree experience using the internet isn't.

Website designers and specifiers are now up there with MPs as far as I'm concerned.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

I've just tried the Independent's website and get one reflow on the front page and one reflow when viewing an article. (Using Firefox on a Linux laptop. It may be your browser, you don't say what it is, or it may be that the ads you are being served are different sizes to what has been reserved for them so the browser has to redraw (reflow) everything.

It's quite hard (actually it's very hard) to design a web page or site that presents all the required information in a clear and consistent manner on all devices.

In reply to Bob:

I use Google Chrome.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

I know what you meant, there seem to be countless sites that just hang mid way through loading.

The biggest offenders seem to be newspapers

In reply to balmybaldwin:

I think it is more the advertising vying for your attention. I can't help but think it is counterproductive though.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

Do you use the <anagram>abcdklo</anagram> plugin?

Alan doesn't like it for this site but you can set it up with exceptions.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

I spent last night cleaning loads of spyware/adware/other PUPs off my father-in-law's laptop, to stop exactly what you describe.

Open the installed programs list and uninstall things like RadioRage, that hijacks browser traffic and inserts ads. Anything in there you don't recognise, or don't remember installing, Google it and delete it has links describing it as a PUP (potentially unwanted program). Worth re-booting in between deletes, although it's a pain, and you'l usually need to shut down your browser to uninstall them.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

Now also illustrated by the new look UKC as the reply box I am typing in appears at the bottom of the page, below all the other comments, various ads and 'elsewhere on this site'.

I can't read the Independent on my computer for the reasons you describe, and the Huffington Post freezes / refuses to load regularly too.

In reply to Malcolm Tucker's Sweary Aunt:

Yes. And it's super annoying when a page appears to have loaded so you click something and mid click everything moves so you end going somewhere unexpected.