Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

vpd.ca

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 156 posts

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#131

Post by b112 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #31
jagged-chisel wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The former should forward to the latter.

NASA.gov for many years lacked a no-www version. IIRC it had something to do with the no-www being important internally at the time.

These days, browsers absurdly try things like adding www. if you don't have it, and there's no open port. Same for http -> https.

This is doubly an issue, as browsers think hiding the http and www is super cool.

So in modern times, you'd never know if the non www was borked or not. It'd just seem slower, especially with a packet drop.

Ideally, you'd want to know there's an issue, not mask it. For example, by updating your bookmark, instead of saying "this site is slow every time".

I wonder of we'll just stop selling forks, because expecting users to learn a tool is verboden. In truth, it is the ridiculous change to tools for no reason which is the issue. Redesigning the UI almost yearly, moving menu items, changing menu item names, and other absurdities. Apparently this is all sensible, whilst expecting the user to know https vs http, and www is absolutely bonkers, and we must help and protect them from this horrible weight of knowledge.

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#132

Post by [deleted] »

xnorswap wrote: post #125

While this is a great idea that no-doubt does help some people, beware this doesn't clean up all traces in the browser, and private/incognito is better at not keeping a history. For example, there is a favicon cache in firefox. If you query favicons.sqlite in your profile directory: select * from moz_pages_w_icons order by id desc limit 10; Then you can see a recent history that isn't cleared up when you just clear h…

[deleted]

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#133

Post by throw1234567891 »

RALaBarge wrote: post #129
ninalanyon wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can turn it off.

Right, but it will get re-enabled on updates or something...it never stayed off for me.

Write yourself a script and run it on log in.

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#134

Post by wongarsu »

therein wrote: post #70
quirino wrote: post #35

The gov.uk Design System calls this the "Exit a page quickly" pattern [1], with an associated component [2]. It can be activated by clicking the Shift key three times. There's this nice blog [3] that explains why they chose Shift instead of other keys, and also gives a nice overview of the pattern. [1] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/exit-a-page-qu... [2] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/components/…

>It can be activated by clicking the Shift key three times. Windows Sticky Keys entered the room.

That only activates when pressing shift five times. Which is admittedly likely when trying to press it three times in a panic

But having a stray sticky keys window open is not too conspicuous

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#136

Post by greengreengrass »

quirino wrote: post #35

The gov.uk Design System calls this the "Exit a page quickly" pattern [1], with an associated component [2]. It can be activated by clicking the Shift key three times. There's this nice blog [3] that explains why they chose Shift instead of other keys, and also gives a nice overview of the pattern. [1] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/patterns/exit-a-page-qu... [2] https://design-system.service.gov.uk/components/…

Seeing the level of thought that went into user experience design, research, and arguing for the _right_ page to redirect to is such a delight.

Engineering (as with so many professions) is about so much more than just shipping features as quickly as possible, and it pleases me when I see fellow engineers taking care and showing thorough consideration over the potential impact of their design decisions on people from all walks of life and circumstances.

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#137

Post by bonesss »

wongarsu wrote: post #134
therein wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It can be activated by clicking the Shift key three times. Windows Sticky Keys entered the room.

That only activates when pressing shift five times. Which is admittedly likely when trying to press it three times in a panic But having a stray sticky keys window open is not too conspicuous

The sticky-keys window often comes with a sharp notification screech.

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#138

Post by chrisjj »

xdkaplan wrote: post #41
hyperhello wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it’s right there in the headline that the website wipes itself from history, so I don’t need any realignment of my ability to discern what I’ve read from what I’ve imagined. If all the site is doing is renaming itself New Tab then that sure isn’t newsworthy. Maybe a domestic violence reporting site should just name itself something innocuous in general without the quick escape? But nonetheless, a web site repla…

Not to start an argument but in lamence terms, renaming history to "New Tab" is as close to wiping history as a website can manage. Concealing, obfuscating, hiding might have been better words but the non technucal audience would not see an issue with the language. Nuance is important, though and i agree its slightly misleading

> Not to start an argument but in lamence terms, renaming history to "New Tab" is as close to wiping history as a website can manage.

"I did my best" is no excuse for this critical failure to deliver as advertised.

This fail is a horrifying abuse facilitator.

Re: Vancouver PD website features Quick Escape button that wipes itself from history

#140

Post by alexpotato »

PSA:

If you ever call 911 and order a pizza, many of the dispatchers are trained to recognize that as "I am in danger and I need an officer to come to the house immediately. The person threatening me can hear this conversation."

It works b/c it gives you a plausible reason to give your address to someone over the phone and they can give you an ETA which is also plausible of "the pizza guy will be here in 20 minutes" etc.

Post reply on HN