User In Yer Face, a worst-practise UI experiment (2018)

https://userinyerface.com/

by onion2k • 3 years ago

362 111 3 years ago

userinyerface.com

alex-moon2• 3 years ago

I couldn't get past the captchas. I wonder if it's possible to do so...?

4pkjai2• 3 years ago

I failed it a few times, but passed when I got the glasses option and selected every box.

alex-moon2• 3 years ago

What did you put for light and circle ones?

4pkjai2• 3 years ago

Very clever, I enjoyed getting past all that. I have seen the "needs-to-be-deleted" placeholder text in the wild before. It's very silly.

thih9• 3 years ago

(mild spoiler alert) It took me 00:06:20 to complete and I enjoyed it a lot. I especially liked the ambiguous form state; I was never sure which part of the form is active or has been selected. I appreciate that it didn't feel needlessly unfair; e.g. when I accidentally clicked a "select all" button that undid all my work, there was also an "unselect all" button within reach.

Loosely related: "The worst volume control UI in the world", https://uxdesign.cc/the-worst-volume-control-ui-in-the-world... .

wizofaus• 3 years ago

The ultimate Turing test? I'm willing to bet not even ChatGPT-11 will have the sheer boneheaded level of determination only a human could ever achieve...

sergiomattei• 3 years ago

Seven minutes. The most aggravating seven minutes of my life.

madisonmay• 3 years ago

Thanks, I hate it.

isp2• 3 years ago

Related - "Engineers are competing who creates the worst UI on Reddit" - https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755496852475906

I particularly like:

- https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755496852475906 - "Enter your phone number"

- https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755532394889219 - "Volume control"

- https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755789313069057 - "Checkbox with a 50% success rate"

SimonPStevens• 3 years ago

Oh the irony of examples of bad UI being posted on twitter where I just get half a UI loading with spinners and can't see anything.

andrepd• 3 years ago

I've got automatic redirects to nitter set up on all my devices.

throwaway173738• 3 years ago

Don’t give Facebook any ideas.

RobotToaster• 3 years ago

The QR code one could be made 1000% more annoying by making it one of those slider puzzles.

all2• 3 years ago

I now want a QR code slider puzzle.

thimabi• 3 years ago

Real dark mode is great! I can actually see myself profiting from such a design in order to focus in dimly-lit environments.

https://twitter.com/volodarik/status/1657755808300519426?s=2...

jonplackett• 3 years ago

I’m also going to plug a tangentially similar game I made

https://termsandconditions.game

I hope you hate it

BizarroLand2• 3 years ago

https://clip.cafe/tucker-dale-vs-evil-2010/ive-never-stood-c...

Georgelemental• 3 years ago

Question 25 of your game is wrong, I think. Both of the last two options could potentially work.

Delightfully aggravating otherwise!

jcparkyn• 3 years ago

Very fun, but I couldn't figure out why the answer to 27 is what it is

jodrellblank• 3 years ago

I didn't see it mentioned, it's possibly this Reddit: https://old.reddit.com/r/badUIbattles/

isp2• 3 years ago

Yes, /r/badUIbattles

Original sources:

- "Please enter your phone number" by /u/Lamamour - https://old.reddit.com/r/badUIbattles/comments/udx3ab/please...

- "Volume Control without boundaries" by /u/Caltrop_ - https://old.reddit.com/r/badUIbattles/comments/ey74ya/volume...

- "checkboxes with a 50% success rate" by /u/975miles - https://old.reddit.com/r/badUIbattles/comments/s8u3v6/checkb...

_joel• 3 years ago

Wow, those timers are fear inducing

cwillu• 3 years ago

How can we help?

alphabetter• 3 years ago

4'17 mostly because I was laughing so hard.

The captcha with the hononyms and the selection boxes where you don't expect them is genius.

tsu_tsu• 3 years ago

Can't even beat level 1... are there more pages than just the frontpage!?

mellosouls• 3 years ago

Brilliant website!

Previous extensive discussions fwiw:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27635310 (2021)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20344565 (2019)

dang• 3 years ago

Thanks! Macroexpanded:

User Inyerface – A worst-practice UI experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27635310 - June 2021 (215 comments)

User Inyerface - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20345826 - July 2019 (1 comment)

User Inyerface – A worst-practice UI experiment - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20344565 - July 2019 (255 comments)

pelagicAustral• 3 years ago

I love that meme of the Phone number input being a trackbar.

julian_t• 3 years ago

My pet insurer's web site has a box for you to enter your policy number, which only accepts numbers and has a spinner. The policy number is seven digits long. It's sort of fun typing the first few and then playing with the up and down arrows.

pedro_hab• 3 years ago

The pw really stressed me, I checked the source code to find what a valid pw looked like.

Pretty cool code btw, it has a rule array that with the error msgs, very easy to follow even tho it was webpacky.

Then I realized the errors were displayed at the bottom of the page.

ra1n• 3 years ago

The send to bottom button making the dialog go down slowly was so hilarious !

codeulike• 3 years ago

that got me too. The very slow speed of it

noman-land• 3 years ago

Brilliant work. This is the equivalent of internet hell. Horrible experience. Thank you.

avereveard• 3 years ago

Loved the placeholder that you have to delete, that's a classic

The form field didn't reset to default values when submitting something that doesn't pass validation, that's probably a little too convenient.

Clamchop• 3 years ago

Jeeze do I ever hate that.

Also password or bank account fields that disable pasting. Just awful.

LoganDark• 3 years ago

password or bank account fields that disable pasting

One of the reasons KeePassXC has an auto-type feature, I bet!

trizoza• 3 years ago

Love this! There used to be a similar site on HN some time ago, something in a sense "How I see internet these days" and endless pop-ups kept on annoying you. Anyone remembers that?

user3939382• 3 years ago

Yep exactly

TeMPOraL• 3 years ago

Oh, I know that one. It comes built-in as an easter egg in uBlock Origin - you can open it by clicking the big "Power" button that shows after you click the uBO logo in the browser toolbar.

yccs27• 3 years ago

Doesn't work on Hacker News though

a13o• 3 years ago

This is what my nightmares are like. I have to do something simple like fill out a form or unlock a door, and everything that can possibly go wrong goes wrong

solarkraft• 3 years ago

My favorite was the "select all" check box.

mattkevan• 3 years ago

Often thought about designing a print magazine with the same values as a web publication:

* Agree to all sorts of scary things to take off the plastic wrapping

* Peel off multiple big stickers on every page

* Big heavy adverts that overlap the content and weigh pages down

* Built-in Tile/Airtag to track location

* Chumboxes for other magazines at the bottom of each article

...etc

Waterluvian• 3 years ago

This sounds like a local “newspaper” that’s 90% ads.

I’ve got one that fully identifies as a newspaper but there isn’t even a single article on the front page.

morkalork• 3 years ago

Especially the ones with the sleezy ads on the backpage for massage and other services.

atorodius• 3 years ago

That‘d be a fun art project imo

AlecSchueler• 3 years ago

And then give it away for free of course!

xp842• 3 years ago

No, only the first couple articles you read are free, the rest are printed in disappearing ink so you get ONLY the ads and pop ups after that until you buy a subscription to the magazine on auto renew.

danparsonson• 3 years ago

Excellent idea - and every time you try to put it down for a moment a hidden spring triggers and it flies up off the table and into your face

troymc• 3 years ago

Also a CD-ROM from AOL!

jjbinx007• 3 years ago

Recreate the Amazon experience in a store by asking for their name so you can show them different prices and offers, then write down everything the shopper looks at, adds to their basket, and after they've paid sell their information to advertisers so they will see adverts for the lawnmower they've just bought for the next few days.

ukuina• 3 years ago

Are you saying Amazon modifies prices for items based on which user is logged in?

WaitWaitWha• 3 years ago

This not my experience.

I walk into the grocery store to get some fuji apples. I keep asking for fuji apple" but I am affixed with horse blinders and walked to the cell phone isle by a helpful clerk, and a bunch of iPhones are presented.

I ask the clerk for "fruit fuji apple", and I am escorted to a different isle with all kinds of accessories for iPhone.

I walk over to the fruits & vegetables department, stand in the isle with all kinds of apples, and ask for the "fuji apples" again. The clerk promptly walks me back to the iPhone accessory isles, and leaves me there.

I go out of the store, ask a passer-by where the fuji apples are in the store, she tells me exactly. I walk into the store, go to the exact location, and see the fuji apples.

I put it in my basket, walk to the check out. At the checkout the clerk asks me if I want to include a 1 year protection plan, or purchase a charger for my apples. I decline.

I purchase it, go home and wait for the apples to show up at my door.

Two days later the fruit show up. They are williams pears.

dredmorbius2• 3 years ago

With in-store (B&M) tracking based on WiFi/Bluetooth signatures and facial recognition ... this is actually in many cases a near future if not already present reality.

The principle difference being that shoppers aren't actually asked for their names.

(Names are determinable through interpolation of those signatures, or through payment information by credit or debit card.)

p1mrx• 3 years ago

Big heavy adverts that overlap the content and weigh pages down

A lot of magazines have a rip-out subscription card like that.

droopyEyelids• 3 years ago

the fall-out cards are even worse

gs17• 3 years ago

It should come with free cookies wrapped in consent notices.

* Agree to all sorts of scary things to take off the plastic wrapping

Wouldn't it just be that one page (not visible without opening it, of course) has the terms and conditions you inherently agreed to by reading the cover?

paulmooreparks• 3 years ago

Big heavy adverts that overlap the content and weigh pages down

PC Magazine, and other similar mags in the 90's/00's, was literally like this. I used to spend several minutes ripping the thick cardboard ads from every issue before trying to read it. At least web sites don't give me paper cuts.

BizarroLand2• 3 years ago

Yeah, but if you rip out all of the cardboard ads, read through, and then close the magazine the cardboard doesn't crawl back into the magazine for you to pull out again if you pick it back up.

illwrks• 3 years ago

Pickup an issue of Wallpaper, if they're still around.... A design magazine with cover to cover advertising and the occasional bit of editorial content. The advertising is curated and not so in-your-face but it's advertising none the less.

cosarara• 3 years ago

I gave up scrolling the terms and conditions.

lkbm2• 3 years ago

Oh, I hadn't even seen that. You don't need to open them up. just uncheck the checkbox.

The CAPTCHA at the end was my favorite part.

jaclaz• 3 years ago

Because you missed this line:

Holding ALT to scroll faster is cheating and not allowed.

or wilfully decided to not cheat.

Mistletoe• 3 years ago

This really doesn’t seem that different from most 2023 websites.

jollyllama2• 3 years ago

You are, of course, exaggerating a bit for rhetorical effect, but it is indeed too close to home. The bulk of my time was spent grappling with things that frequently give me a hassle on real websites.

The dialog box

The strenuous password requirements

Especially the "select all pictures of" bit. Anyone who has tried browsing with a proxy can confirm.

adhesive_wombat• 3 years ago

I literally was unable to purchase something from Currys on my phone, it was so bogged down in JS madness that it just didn't work. It would only work on my computer, and then only in Chromium (the payment flow just stopped loading after entering the card details on Firefox). When I did manage to place the order, the payment was processed twice, so that white loading screen in Firefox did so something. When I picked it up, I was told that they can't process online returns, I would have to take the extra one away, arrange a return online and then bring it back.

quickthrower2• 3 years ago

No back button hijack?

btschaegg• 3 years ago

Came here to say this too. That definitely leaves some UX pessimisation potential on the table.

mlajtos• 3 years ago

There is whole subreddit dedicated to these kind of UIs: https://www.reddit.com/r/badUIbattles/top/?t=all

Enjoy.

lesuorac• 3 years ago

I'm pretty partial to that draw your countries flag [1]

[1] https://old.reddit.com/r/badUIbattles/comments/g4aytv/tired_...

ranting-moth• 3 years ago

expect order of certain things.

User interface is like reading, people

splittydev• 3 years ago

5m50s, how did I do?

lkbm2• 3 years ago

4:49 for me, but I cheated. My address number is 1744, and I quit incrementing at 5. I suspect it would've been well past 7 minutes if I'd been determined to enter accurate information.

TheCapn• 3 years ago

3:13! I had some good chuckles at finding "Unselect All" or "Select all Bows". Birthdates not matching on the one form got me too

jollyllama2• 3 years ago

09:21

mgkimsal• 3 years ago

5:34!

devmor• 3 years ago

Incredible! I got 3 steps in before I wanted to die.

mm007emko• 3 years ago

3:10. Honestly, I would expect meatspin at the final page.

Tokkemon2• 3 years ago

Me too. The design brings back memories of those old jumpscare flash games.

finnh• 3 years ago

the slow-roll "send to bottom" on the chat box is so damn funny

Tokkemon2• 3 years ago

Web version of Homer disappearing into the bushes.

titzer• 3 years ago

Getting there! It needs to completely randomize itself about halfway through your workflow. And more ratings! Don't forget to like us and give us five stars. About the exact moment you are ready to finish.

m3kw9• 3 years ago

Is like a tough game

dheera• 3 years ago

The site actually crashed Chrome as soon as I uploaded an file, to the point where even mouse clicks on the address bar or other tabs wouldn't work. I didn't think that was supposed to be possible. I guess we can dig into the code and figure out how to crash peoples' browsers with a website?

@ChromeDevTeam Your bug reporting process is too complicated so I'm just leaving this here on the internet for you to find

TAKEMYMONEY• 3 years ago

Needs a "sign up for our newsletter!" popover as well

docheinestages• 3 years ago

https://imgur.com/S0dPEZn

nicetryguy• 3 years ago

I got 7:39; nice one!

As funny as this is; it truly sarcastically encapsulates everything that is wrong with modern web design.

EmileSonneveld• 3 years ago

I got 8:13. Checking all the checks took the most time

sgtnasty• 3 years ago

Bravo, alas I could not finish, my anxiety got in the way. There are actual gov forms similar this.

yellowapple• 3 years ago

4:22: https://imgur.com/Wv9zZci

Naturally, the process of uploading that screenshot to Imgur made me wonder if I was still in the "experiment".

numeromancer• 3 years ago

The only winning move is not to play.

ironmagma• 3 years ago

Still HN: frontend development takes no skill

rabuse• 3 years ago

I do have to say. In all my years (10+) of programming both frontend, and backend, UI is by far the most difficult thing to do properly.

dredmorbius2• 3 years ago

Discussed previously on HN:

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27635310> 2 years ago | 215 comments

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20353724> 4 years ago | 44 comments

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20345826> 4 years ago | 1 comments

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20344565> 4 years ago | 214 comments

(Re-posts after a year of no significant discussion are permitted.)

xp842• 3 years ago

Reminds me of the cursed form fields that don’t allow pasting for bank account numbers, which I’ve seen recently at multiple financial sites. What on earth makes them think that typing something manually twice is less error-prone than literally pasting it from a known-good source??

garysahota93• 3 years ago

This made my heart boil with rage..... I LOVE IT

User In Yer Face, a worst-practise UI experiment (2018)

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