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Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

graphics.wsj.com

1–10 of 21 posts

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#2
Is it just me, or is this a good example of how not to present content on the web. I could hardly read any of that article - the animated background thing took forever to load, and was incredibly distracting. There's a story in there somewhere, I'm sure, but I just didn't have time - it was quicker to google the bad guy's name and read the story on another site.

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#4
post #2

Is it just me, or is this a good example of how not to present content on the web. I could hardly read any of that article - the animated background thing took forever to load, and was incredibly distracting. There's a story in there somewhere, I'm sure, but I just didn't have time - it was quicker to google the bad guy's name and read the story on another site.

Yep, although I just clicked the Instapaper "View as Text" button on my toolbar and read it that way. Much more readable and fewer distractions:

https://www.instapaper.com/text?u=http%3A%2F%2Fgraphics.wsj....

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#5
I really enjoyed the presentation of this piece. I understand that may not be a popular sentiment, but the graphics and interactivity worked well in creating a sort of atmosphere as well as helping me get a better understanding of the situation.

It wasn't perfect, but it was interesting and memorable. I could perceive the difficulty the authorities faced in trying to storm the bunker. It was neat.

And of course, the article still looks beautiful when put through the Readability extension. For people complaining about interactivity, you can use extensions to disable it (although I understand the frustration and also wish there was a built in way to disable it).

And more on topic: it was highly unsettling to me that Mr. Dykes could kill Mr. Poland even after the gift of fresh eggs and homemade jelly. The gunshot noises really got to me. The presentation of this article felt more real and visceral than most articles do. I'm glad I bothered to put on the headphones and try it.

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#6
post #2

Is it just me, or is this a good example of how not to present content on the web. I could hardly read any of that article - the animated background thing took forever to load, and was incredibly distracting. There's a story in there somewhere, I'm sure, but I just didn't have time - it was quicker to google the bad guy's name and read the story on another site.

Agreed, it was particularly hard to read the text when it was positioned over the dark pencil drawing used as a background on the right.

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#7
post #6
post #2

Is it just me, or is this a good example of how not to present content on the web. I could hardly read any of that article - the animated background thing took forever to load, and was incredibly distracting. There's a story in there somewhere, I'm sure, but I just didn't have time - it was quicker to google the bad guy's name and read the story on another site.

Agreed, it was particularly hard to read the text when it was positioned over the dark pencil drawing used as a background on the right.

Disable adblocker (and ghostery) and give it another shot. The backgrounds will moves out of the way but you have something blocked which is stopping it from happening.

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#8
post #2

Is it just me, or is this a good example of how not to present content on the web. I could hardly read any of that article - the animated background thing took forever to load, and was incredibly distracting. There's a story in there somewhere, I'm sure, but I just didn't have time - it was quicker to google the bad guy's name and read the story on another site.

I was reading on an Android webview, and I didn't find any trouble reading it. I don't know how the experience was on desktop.

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#9
Interesting story that kept my attention to the end, despite the intrusive multimedia elements (I'm reading this very late at night, with people asleep nearby, and one of the videos started auto-playing and wouldn't let me pause it).

I would say all parties involved, from bus driver Poland to the 911 operator, the FBI and the local sheriff, behaved admirably and at times heroically. For those men to jump down that hole and take bullets to rescue the boy, notably the fellow who located the kid in the dark and shielded him with his body, prepared to take bullets from the kidnapper to save the boy--incredible stuff.

This guy Dykes was a tragic kind of figure, the kind of ticking time bomb that we need to identify earlier on to prevent the kinds of mass shootings that occur with all too much regularity in our country.

I'm not sure what you can do with someone who stays just this side of the law but is clearly deranged and unstable, but there's got to be something beyond just ignoring him and letting him fester.

Re: Inside an FBI Hostage Crisis

#10
post #2

Is it just me, or is this a good example of how not to present content on the web. I could hardly read any of that article - the animated background thing took forever to load, and was incredibly distracting. There's a story in there somewhere, I'm sure, but I just didn't have time - it was quicker to google the bad guy's name and read the story on another site.

This is the issue I have now with being a developer. There's so many things people do because they believe we all have gigabit fiber internet service and just bloat the fuck out of the page for no other reason than to try and show off.

It only took 140 requests, 36MB and 2.4 minutes later, I was able to read the article.

This is completely unacceptable and an epic failure.

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