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by uploaderwin 1906 days ago
It's so sad that such amazing features are often abused more than they are actually used. It's always a cat and mouse game with the browser vendors and ad makers.

Like web push notifications and popups are two really useful features but the amount of abuse they have had to endure is amazing. Every shitty site from newspapers to reddit to facebook must show a dark screen and ask me to subscribe to web notifications before i can see anything.

Then there are hidden APIs for which no permission is needed, like trapping of the back button (where a site gains access to my browser's back button and won't let you go back) and page close button (where it shows a popup asking you to confirm you want to leave).
3 comments
jooize 1906 days ago
Push notifications in Safari just suck because the discoverability method is a dialogue box that interrupts and blocks all other user actions.

The browser should never let a website interrupt unless allowed by the user. Place a bell icon in the address bar and make it translucently balloon up when triggered for visibility.

Side note: Browser interface should stay outside the untrusted zone of web content. Whenever it can't, interface could have an unobtrusive unimitable background pattern extending from the trusted zone into the untrusted zone. The user should always know what is browser or website.

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caaqil 1906 days ago
Blocking notifications by default made my browsing experience so much better. The amount of "allow notifications" bullshit on the Web is insane.
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postalrat 1905 days ago
You must be visiting some shady sites.
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caaqil 1905 days ago
The trend of asking for notifications is not just limited to "shady" sites, however you define that.
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prox 1906 days ago
Well, in the case of news, they need to make money. If they can’t show you ads, you are of zero value to them, only adding to costs (and I hate the practice just as much)

What I want since forever is a tipjar that works well. I put a bit of credit into my tipjar. I read an article and at the halfway point it allows me to tip an amount. Should be anonymous if I want and a one or two clicks affair.

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