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by ulisesrmzroche 4736 days ago
If I may offer a little critique:

I'm on the really-hates-the-footer camp. It's off-putting. See the thing about the footer is that you already broke rule #2, you're trying to close the sale(it's not a gift, I know you're trying to get me to sign up to your newsletter) So putting it out like that is just obnoxious, and no one likes an obnoxious salesman. You should have just put the offer at the very bottom, once I read your article and I'm liking what you're saying, when I'm half-sold, not the large black footer that cuts out 1/3 of my screen, and I'm on an old macbook air, so screen real-estate is important to me at all times. And as was noted by ascimo(sic?) in this thread, on an android device it literally blocks the content!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5996040

The other thing is that it kinda doesn't sell you, which sucks because I'm sure you're a great dude, but you're telling me I should sign up because you're awesome, you're smarter, and you have way more fans than me. If you would have told me how it would have made my life easier, or the holy mantra (increase revenue, decrease costs) then it would have had a better shot.

The other thing is the headline, then copy, then picture layout of the bullet points. This goes against how we scan things, which is picture then headline then body copy. Visual, then bold and big, then small print. When you scroll down, the first thing you see is the picture, and then I have to scan up real fast, and then read down. Watch yourself and you'll do the same thing.

Also, that text is not organized in columns, so it makes it hard to read. Dividing it into two columns (like, say, a book, the epitome of the two column layout) would be so much easier to read and in turn, sell me more on what you're saying.

3 comments

I usually have my NoScript turned on, and it was a very pleasant read because I didn't even realize there was a footer there until I turned on scripts. In my opinion, the experience was better with the scripts off, even if the font wasn't as cool. I got the value from the article without the scripts on and footer missing.
You got the value because you were able to read through the thing already. However, the other side of the argument is that people are getting turned off immediately and never read the content, so they don't get any value at all, and worse, get pissed because the footer was all up on their face.

Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that this sort of footer is a good case for a GUI anti-pattern. It literally hurts your sales.

That's exactly what I'm saying -- I read through it all because with my scripts turned off, the footer didn't appear. I didn't even realize it was there! So, yes, case in point - maybe I wouldn't have read it at all with the footer, although it's hard to tell now. When others started commenting on the footer, I had to go back to the page, turn on the scripts and then I was like, "ok, that's big!".

The content of the article was good nonetheless, but I don't think the footer added to it, and probably took away from it a bit.

The newsletter is the gift. You don't pay for it, and you only sign up if you like this free content and want more.

All of this is just gifts to get you to know/trust/like them so that maybe in the future you'll buy their service.

That's the thing though. In the end, let's be honest, it's about money. We all know newsletters are to get us into your pipeline, and you know what? Maybe so, but not right now. Calling it a gift is just a bit arrogant. Especially with that footer. How is this guy going to get me to pay money on UX advice with that footer? I bet that's the common line of thought around here

And here's good a/b testing though, accidental as it was, because it was the people who read with noscript on that got the footer at the end and actually liked the content and it was those who saw the footer that got frustrated and didn't even read it.

Also, maybe I'm on the footer list? I hadn't thought about that. In that case, pencil me in as didn't like it, haha!

I agree on hating the footer, but I have no opinion on your criticism of the content, because I didn't even read it because I was straining to focus on the actual site through the tiny slot provided.
This is probably the majority opinion of people who come from smaller devices. I too had to strain to read it, but kept on. I'm 25 with good eyesight, but as you said, that tiny slot is just too much to bear.
I'm 21 but I have poor eyesight. A footer(or a fixed header, which is my pet peeve) like that is an insta-close for me.

If I'm really interested it's a right click to change the element style to display:none, but even that inspires some resentment in me.