Whatever the setting is for “don’t you EVER pop a browser-originated notification. Don’t even ASK.” in macOS, I have that turned on.
In Firefox: go to about:config and set dom.webnotifications.enabled to false.
Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
21–30 of 51 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#22I've purposely enabled them for my works slack, and they have been extremely convenient there.
I have intentionally denied them on every other website that asked, not many have asked.
I'm glad they exist. Currently they don't seem to be widely abused. If they become widely abused a "default to silently deny" policy would handle any user-hostility.
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#23I accept them 0% of the time. Always on purpose. 100%. Yes I’ve never once seen a “allow notifications because some actual benefit”. It’s always just forced pop up with no elaboration of why I might actually care to give this permission. It’s usually also pops up the first time I visit a site. Why on earth do I want to sign up for the “new blog post” notifications before I even know if I like this blog. It actually immediately discredits your site in my opinion.
I can imagine a responsible implementation Like others are explaining here but have never seen it in the wild myself.
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#24I deny them 100% time. Almost all websites seem to ask them nowadays. However, very few websites seem to ask once I have denied it permanently.
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#25Another data point for 100% denial here, my gf authorized one for the local newspaper (she's also an avid newsletter subscriber)
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#26Notifications can be useful for web apps. A good rule of thumb is to only ask for permission when the user interacts with your app. For example, I ask for permission when the user clicks a button with the text "Enable Push Notifications" on the user settings screen. Then I let the user choose what kind of notifications they'd like to receive - typically CRUD actions for entities that the user cares about.
> A good rule of thumb is to only ask for permission when the user interacts with your app. For example, I ask for permission when the user clicks a button with the text "Enable Push Notifications" on the user settings screen.
This is absolutely the right way to do it. A little unobtrusive in-page suggestion to enable notifications is not a problem; I've enabled them for Slack via such a notification, for instance. But I'm never going to grant a site notification permission if it pops up the browser permission dialog without interaction.
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#27100% of the time, with a single exception yesterday for an Apple support chat window I had open among a bunch of other ones on a laptop without an external screen. There are a few exceptions where thry’re worthwhile but it needs to be part of a focused experience.
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#28Always deny except for Slack.
I don’t even enable notifications for most apps on my desktop or on my phone. There are enough distractions in modern life already.
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#290%, no exceptions.
Any website that asks for them gets immediately flagged as an entitled piece of s--t.
Re: Ask HN: Are browser notifications user-hostile?
#30I like it that Nextcloud and protonmail have them. Other than that I find them extremely annoying. Its like a twitter friend request just to send you adds, I have never accepted any of them.