Top all-time · #3355
Not The User's Fault
Personal blog · jonoscript.wordpress.comdesignprogramming
Not The User's Fault is a personal blog at jonoscript.wordpress.com about design and programming. Since 2008, 23 different Hacker News readers have linked it 29 times, most often “Some People Can’t Read URLs”. The last post was in 2013, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (7) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Commenters link these posts on browser and interface design: Firefox memory use and version numbering, Mozilla Ubiquity's verb commands, icon clarity, small default font sizes, and whether users notice the URL bar.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 7 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Jono at Mozilla Labs
Most-linked posts?
- Some People Can’t Read URLs3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-02-19
- What Mozilla Labs learned from Ubiquity2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-01-20
- GMail: designer arrogance and the cult of minimalism2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2012-04-27
What Hacker News says?
I agree with you, and it reminds me of Mozilla Ubiquity, and particularly this post: https://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/why-verbs/
Comment linking /2008/07/26/why-verbs/
on “On Digital Minimalism”Submitted GMail: designer arrogance and the cult of minimalism as a story · 251 points
HN discussionhttp://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/firefox-keyboard-...
Comment linking /2011/07/28/firefox-keyboard-navigation-tricks/
on “Firefox 7 will use up to 50% less memory ”Submitted Is it possible to opt out of social networking? as a story · 40 points
HN discussionI must be missing something. I was under the impression that Mozilla was incrementing Firefox's major version number with every new release, even if new releases didn't have api changes . As described in http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/its-not-about-the... for example. Is that not the case? Is there actually some part of Firefox that other software relies on that's getting changed in not-backwards-compati…
Comment linking /2011/07/18/its-not-about-the-version-numbers-its-about-extension-compatibility-and-long-term-support/
on “Fix the versioning”Submitted Some People Can’t Read URLs as a story · 7 points
HN discussion11px is a pretty small default, below the recommended size. For links it also means a small target to click on. There's some context about icons here: http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/gmail-designer-ar... If they are universally acknowledgeable (a big red X, a red dot, a green dot) then yeah they make sense, otherwise they just lead to confusion about what they do. In this case I didn't think they were add…
Comment linking /2012/04/26/gmail-designer-arrogance-and-the-cult-of-minimalism/
on “Show HN: UI improvements for Jenkins”Submitted GMail: designer arrogance and the cult of minimalism as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSome article was temporarily the top Google hit when searching "facebook login". This caused some confusion among URL-unaware facebook users. http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/some-people-cant-...
Comment linking /2010/02/18/some-people-cant-read-urls/
on “Google Wants to Kill the URL: Chrome 13 Lets Users Hide the Address Bar”Submitted Cool, intuitive javascript selection technique as a story · 5 points
HN discussionThe first comment on this blog lays out some key differences: http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/google-chrome-ext...
Comment linking /2009/12/08/google-chrome-extensions/
on “By Extension, Chrome Battles Firefox”Submitted Openness is a lot of work. as a story · 4 points
HN discussionIf you recall a while back, a blog post became the top result for typing "facebook" into the firefox address bar (or something along those lines - see http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2010/02/18/some-people-cant-... ). If the conclusions of this are to be believed, I would say that the URL matters very little.
Comment linking /2010/02/18/some-people-cant-read-urls/
on “Ask HN: Are uncommon TLDs (.ly, .io) viable for average users?”Submitted Trying to escape from Google Buzz: The Adventure Continues as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted These things I believe as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Lovebird is ready for beta testing as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted What Mozilla Labs learned from Ubiquity as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted A tutorial level for the internet? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Marketing genius (on iPhone) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why You Should Care About the Open Web as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Plumbing, and the magic word "it" as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Things I Believe (2008) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Retrospective: What we learned from Ubiquity (2010) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Lovebird for Thunderbird: The newest thing usually isn’t the most important as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Dear Thunderbird: I know you can’t save my draft; please stop complaining as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Ask HN: Don't you have anything you want to discuss with Mozilla? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How do People Use Tabs? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Language-Based Interfaces, Part 2: Where do we stand now? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Voice Recognition and Ambiguity as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
