A useless infinite scroll experiment
74 points - last Friday at 5:03 PM
Sourcethomasfl
today at 10:44 AM
Just likte this demonstrates the stupidity of infinite scrolling, here is a site that demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate everybody to click click on things that gives us rewards:
https://neal.fun/stimulation-clicker/
dolin_ch
today at 11:16 AM
Yes, I knew about this site ;)
Windows autoscroll makes this game too easy. This feature was introduced a very long time ago, possibly with the IntelliMouse in the year 1996. Press on the scroll wheel (considered to be middle-click) and release the button, which overlays a little scroll guide circle. Move the mouse down to begin scrolling, and don't touch anything else. Click any mouse button to stop scrolling. (Another variant is to click and hold the wheel button, move the mouse down to scroll, and release the button to stop.)
sebastiennight
today at 9:24 AM
"Windows" autoscroll? My Mac has had the same behavior for as long as I can remember. Did they copy it?
oneeyedpigeon
today at 10:13 AM
How do you do this on macOS? I can't find anything under Settings > Mouse and I can't find a way of fluking it with various random gestures. I don't think I'll ever need it, I'm just curious!
Yes, yes, I know, but the site is designed for mobile devices and for the real pleasure of scrolling, not just cheating.
Just for fun ;)
CodesInChaos
today at 11:13 AM
I'm confused by that thing. After scrolling for a couple of minutes, the animation seems to play on on its own for longer than I cared to wait. Isn't the animation supposed to be coupled to the scrolling?
And it doesn't really feel like scrolling either, since apart from the tiny depth bar on the left, no content scrolls by.
dolin_ch
today at 12:08 PM
That's a fair point.
The punchlines are there mostly to make the empty scroll a bit more entertaining while you go down. But you're right that nothing really scrolls by in the traditional sense.
The idea is more about measuring how far your thumb travels than about browsing actual content.
voidUpdate
today at 10:39 AM
Might want an epilepsy flashing warning? for things like 666m and 1000m
dolin_ch
today at 11:14 AM
Yes, you're right, I hadn't thought of that! Thank you for your constructive feedback.
faeyanpiraat
today at 10:52 AM
How to make it obvious you are from the UK, without mentioning you are from the UK. :D
voidUpdate
today at 11:08 AM
Is finding bright flashing fullscreen images annoying, and knowing it can cause medical issues for some people a uniquely british thing?
sebastiennight
today at 6:58 AM
Nice. I will now start using it when I feel a compulsive need to escape boredom during unfocused Zoom calls.
A few remarks:
- some sentences (many) seem to be cut off on desktop. I only see, eg. "content to keep the site from going viral" or "around here. We're not that ambitious".
- It's interesting that for users who have their device set to the superior scrolling direction ("reverse" scrolling, drag your fingers up to see what's at the top), your website behaves correctly but gives the opposite feeling. It's the first webpage where I've ever felt like "normal" scrolling (drag your fingers down to pull the page down) would be more natural.
- scrolling for long enough to get the first sound effect was quite a surprise
Looking forward to your next Zoom meeting ;)
That's strange about the cut-off sentences. What device are you using? I'll check it out, because I'm not having any problems on my end. Thank you so much for the great feedback, I really appreciate it!
hackerbeat
today at 10:17 AM
Nice! Reminds me of https://gagzap.com/
dolin_ch
today at 10:27 AM
I didn't know about that, thank you for the link.
iOS health app could track this like steps. Total distance scrolled on your phone.
There was a iOS jailbreak tweak called Treadmill where it exactly done that. Pretty cool to me.
https://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/01/31/ryan-petrich-treadm...
I didn't know that, thank you for the information and for your feedback
2Gkashmiri
today at 10:56 AM
Never owned an iPhone after 3GS because it became prohibitively expensive.
I have so many memories of cydia and there was this itools, some Chinese software that let me do more than iTunes.
Those were the days.
I was rocking an html lockdscreen which was pretty cool.
When I got hands on original iPhone back in 2008, I remember my PC having less ram, less storage as that was a handmedown. It was freaking cool to have more compute in hand than what my xp machine did.
dolin_ch
today at 11:12 AM
The good old days! Still on iPhone, but no more jailbreaking... too restrictive.
Ahahah, that would be an excellent idea
Fun. I took out a tape measure to see how accurate it was. It wasn't very accurate. Also the scale on the left scrolls faster than my finger. Fennec(Firefox) on Android.
kevincox
today at 10:38 AM
The scale on the left was also very stuttery. Even when scrolling slow I could see the distance at the bottom updating at a very high frame rate and the scale on the left only moved occasionally which felt awful.
dolin_ch
today at 12:10 PM
I'll make a note of that and try to fix it, thank you.
Right. Thank you very much for the feedback, I'll check it out !
adhoc_slime
today at 11:01 AM
crazy level of eye damage from the flashing effects. Turns something cute into something painful, so thanks for that.
dolin_ch
today at 11:17 AM
I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of that! I'll take care of it!
PetitPrince
today at 9:32 AM
You should add a punchline about training for a thumb war (with a rocky reference ?).
Great idea! I'll do that ! ;) Thanks !
dolin_ch
last Friday at 5:10 PM
Small experiment about infinite scrolling.
It converts scrolling into a measurable distance.
The more you scroll, the more the site reminds you you're still scrolling.
On smartphones for real-world use ! ;)
"This scroll will get you nowhere."
I disagree. It has gotten me to being entertained.
Ohhhh, thank you, I'm delighted
Won't this lose precision as you near the limits of a double? Or is it using BigInt behind the scenes?
It's just standard JS numbers (IEEE-754 doubles), not BigInt.
The distance is accumulated in millimeters, so even if someone somehow scrolled hundreds of kilometers we'd still be far below the 2^53 integer precision limit.
So precision loss shouldn't realistically happen.
orthoxerox
today at 7:16 AM
Finally, a website that makes me feel like activating a superpower when I unlock the scroll wheel on my mouse.
Ahahah. But it's more for your thumb, on mobile.
What a great time, accompanied by smiles at the punchlines. I love the idea. Thank you for the time wasted.
Really happy to read this comment, thank you so much !
leosanchez
today at 5:51 AM
Did I hear a moan after pausing around 200m ?
gus_massa
last Sunday at 3:01 AM
Can you add an option to switch to feet? :)
sebastiennight
today at 9:21 AM
Most people scroll using their thumbs. Your touchscreen must be quite large
Why not Fahrenheits while at it?
dolin_ch
yesterday at 10:22 PM
But there is no end