Stop the Slow Lane

#1

Post by bfeld » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:33 PM UTC

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#2

Post by rubbingalcohol » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:50 PM UTC

Please let me know if you have any problems or feedback on the widget. I've also tried to set it up to be easy to remix and add your own slowdown animations (more info coming soon!)

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#3

Post by cr3ative » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:53 PM UTC

I'm not 100% sure that annoying your visitors is the best way to either retain said visitors OR warm them to your cause.

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#4

Post by bradleyjoyce » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:53 PM UTC

While I understand the sentiment, this seems more likely to just encourage site visitors to hit the back button rather than take the desired action.

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#5

Post by higherpurpose » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:54 PM UTC

Think about someone visiting your site for first time. They'll just think something is wrong with your website. So it needs some context. It should say somewhere that this is a form of protest against FCC's new Internet rules. Get inspired by some of the SOPA blackout messages, like the one from Wikipedia for example, to see how it should be done right, but instead of a "black image" covering the screen, they could get the slow loading animation:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Wikipedia...

There should absolutely be a call to action to Congress representatives and FCC, too.

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#6

Post by level » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:56 PM UTC

The closing quote on the tag in the "1. Add slowlane.js to Your Website" section is missing. Not really an issue, but it looks unprofessional.

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#7

Post by billyarzt » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:56 PM UTC

cr3ative wrote: post #3

I'm not 100% sure that annoying your visitors is the best way to either retain said visitors OR warm them to your cause.

Wasn't that the strategy prior to the SOPA vote when Wikipedia blacked out? It seems the strategy is more to give everyday internet users an idea of what life would be like if this was passed.

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#8

Post by nkozyra » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:56 PM UTC

For some reason this seems to be the go-to "show 'em" methodology. I think people, in general, understand what slower means.

I mean this is cute but I think this might be the fourth or fifth implementation I've seen and they all have better likelihood of just annoying someone instead of educating them.

I realize a standardized alert message delivered via JS doesn't have the same "share-able" impact, but it's probably more effective overall.

I'm imagining Wikipedia's fundraising drives and whether they'd do as well if they just blurred out a large portion of every article to raise awareness versus a prominent message.

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#9

Post by rubbingalcohol » Mon, May 12, 2014, 4:57 PM UTC

level wrote: post #6

The closing quote on the tag in the "1. Add slowlane.js to Your Website" section is missing. Not really an issue, but it looks unprofessional.

Actually it was an issue. It would break entire websites >_Thanks for the heads up.

Re: Stop the Slow Lane

#10

Post by xwowsersx » Mon, May 12, 2014, 5:00 PM UTC

bradleyjoyce wrote: post #4

While I understand the sentiment, this seems more likely to just encourage site visitors to hit the back button rather than take the desired action.

I disagree. If the site is somewhat heavily trafficked already (which is the kind of site that will actually have an impact), then they'll wait.