Digg killed the iFrame toolbar, hackers rejoice

Wed, Apr 7, 2010

Kevin Rose posted on the Digg blog that they're going to remove the DiggBar (annoying iFrame with URL shortening features) etc. I personally hate iframed links and annoying widgets like that, so I'm all for it.

He listed the reasons and I really think they're valid and they're exactly why I don't like them. So I decided to list them here for easy referencing. This post should be called "why iframed links are annoying", but who cares.

Kevin Rose's stated reasons (loosely quoted / reworded)

  • Framing content with an iFrame is bad for the Internet.
  • It causes confusion when bookmarking.
  • It breaks when you use iFrame busters.
  • The top frame has no ability to communicate with the lower frame (if you browse away from a story, the old digg count still persists).
  • It's an inconsistent/wonky user experience.
  • Framing content with an iFrame is bad for the Internet. It causes confusion when bookmarking.It breaks when you use iFrame busters.The top frame has no ability to communicate with the lower frame (if you browse away from a story, the old digg count still persists). It's an inconsistent/wonky user experience.

Since I'm on the subject

I might as well add some of my own annoyances with them, since I'm on the subject:
  • Keyboard navigation gets annoying. Which frame has the focus? Page-up / page-down buttons will stop working unless focused in the right frame.
  • Take up screen real estate - Maybe only important on smaller screens, I haven't tried some of these toolbars using a mobile browser, but I'm guessing it sucks.
  • It can make it really confusing what site you're actually viewing, not just with bookmarking, but with copying-pasting the URL and URL recognition
A lot of people might disagree. Like people always do. Here's one hacker rejoicing. Now we just need to kill IE6's ghost, IE7+8, Flash, etc and we can all be happy.

Am I missing something?