A useless infinite scroll experiment

(futile.ch)

74 points | by dolin_ch 4 days ago ago

48 comments

  • thomasfl an hour ago

    Just likte this demonstrates the stupidity of infinite scrolling, here is a site that demonstrates how easy it is to manipulate everybody to click click on things that gives us rewards:

    https://neal.fun/stimulation-clicker/

    • dolin_ch an hour ago

      Yes, I knew about this site ;)

  • nayuki 4 hours ago

    Windows autoscroll makes this game too easy. This feature was introduced a very long time ago, possibly with the IntelliMouse in the year 1996. Press on the scroll wheel (considered to be middle-click) and release the button, which overlays a little scroll guide circle. Move the mouse down to begin scrolling, and don't touch anything else. Click any mouse button to stop scrolling. (Another variant is to click and hold the wheel button, move the mouse down to scroll, and release the button to stop.)

    • EsportToys 41 minutes ago

      You may also be interested in my little modification of middle-scroll behaviour:

      https://github.com/esporttoys/librescroll

    • sebastiennight 3 hours ago

      "Windows" autoscroll? My Mac has had the same behavior for as long as I can remember. Did they copy it?

      • oneeyedpigeon 2 hours ago

        How do you do this on macOS? I can't find anything under Settings > Mouse and I can't find a way of fluking it with various random gestures. I don't think I'll ever need it, I'm just curious!

    • dolin_ch 4 hours ago

      Yes, yes, I know, but the site is designed for mobile devices and for the real pleasure of scrolling, not just cheating. Just for fun ;)

  • CodesInChaos an hour ago

    I'm confused by that thing. After scrolling for a couple of minutes, the animation seems to play on on its own for longer than I cared to wait. Isn't the animation supposed to be coupled to the scrolling?

    And it doesn't really feel like scrolling either, since apart from the tiny depth bar on the left, no content scrolls by.

  • voidUpdate an hour ago

    Might want an epilepsy flashing warning? for things like 666m and 1000m

    • dolin_ch an hour ago

      Yes, you're right, I hadn't thought of that! Thank you for your constructive feedback.

    • faeyanpiraat an hour ago

      How to make it obvious you are from the UK, without mentioning you are from the UK. :D

      • voidUpdate an hour ago

        Is finding bright flashing fullscreen images annoying, and knowing it can cause medical issues for some people a uniquely british thing?

  • sebastiennight 5 hours ago

    Nice. I will now start using it when I feel a compulsive need to escape boredom during unfocused Zoom calls.

    A few remarks:

    - some sentences (many) seem to be cut off on desktop. I only see, eg. "content to keep the site from going viral" or "around here. We're not that ambitious".

    - It's interesting that for users who have their device set to the superior scrolling direction ("reverse" scrolling, drag your fingers up to see what's at the top), your website behaves correctly but gives the opposite feeling. It's the first webpage where I've ever felt like "normal" scrolling (drag your fingers down to pull the page down) would be more natural.

    - scrolling for long enough to get the first sound effect was quite a surprise

    • dolin_ch 4 hours ago

      Looking forward to your next Zoom meeting ;) That's strange about the cut-off sentences. What device are you using? I'll check it out, because I'm not having any problems on my end. Thank you so much for the great feedback, I really appreciate it!

  • hackerbeat 2 hours ago

    Nice! Reminds me of https://gagzap.com/

    • dolin_ch 2 hours ago

      I didn't know about that, thank you for the link.

  • adhoc_slime an hour ago

    crazy level of eye damage from the flashing effects. Turns something cute into something painful, so thanks for that.

    • dolin_ch an hour ago

      I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of that! I'll take care of it!

  • totetsu 5 hours ago

    iOS health app could track this like steps. Total distance scrolled on your phone.

    • mrunseen 5 hours ago

      There was a iOS jailbreak tweak called Treadmill where it exactly done that. Pretty cool to me.

      https://www.idownloadblog.com/2016/01/31/ryan-petrich-treadm...

      • dolin_ch 5 hours ago

        I didn't know that, thank you for the information and for your feedback

      • 2Gkashmiri an hour ago

        Never owned an iPhone after 3GS because it became prohibitively expensive.

        I have so many memories of cydia and there was this itools, some Chinese software that let me do more than iTunes.

        Those were the days. I was rocking an html lockdscreen which was pretty cool.

        When I got hands on original iPhone back in 2008, I remember my PC having less ram, less storage as that was a handmedown. It was freaking cool to have more compute in hand than what my xp machine did.

        • dolin_ch an hour ago

          The good old days! Still on iPhone, but no more jailbreaking... too restrictive.

    • dolin_ch 5 hours ago

      Ahahah, that would be an excellent idea

  • leni536 3 hours ago

    Fun. I took out a tape measure to see how accurate it was. It wasn't very accurate. Also the scale on the left scrolls faster than my finger. Fennec(Firefox) on Android.

    • kevincox an hour ago

      The scale on the left was also very stuttery. Even when scrolling slow I could see the distance at the bottom updating at a very high frame rate and the scale on the left only moved occasionally which felt awful.

    • dolin_ch 3 hours ago

      Right. Thank you very much for the feedback, I'll check it out !

  • PetitPrince 3 hours ago

    You should add a punchline about training for a thumb war (with a rocky reference ?).

    • dolin_ch 2 hours ago

      Great idea! I'll do that ! ;) Thanks !

  • dolin_ch 4 days ago

    Small experiment about infinite scrolling.

    It converts scrolling into a measurable distance.

    The more you scroll, the more the site reminds you you're still scrolling.

    • dolin_ch 3 hours ago

      On smartphones for real-world use ! ;)

  • rkomorn 6 hours ago

    "This scroll will get you nowhere."

    I disagree. It has gotten me to being entertained.

    • dolin_ch 4 hours ago

      Ohhhh, thank you, I'm delighted

  • adzm 4 hours ago

    Won't this lose precision as you near the limits of a double? Or is it using BigInt behind the scenes?

    • dolin_ch 4 hours ago

      It's just standard JS numbers (IEEE-754 doubles), not BigInt.

      The distance is accumulated in millimeters, so even if someone somehow scrolled hundreds of kilometers we'd still be far below the 2^53 integer precision limit.

      So precision loss shouldn't realistically happen.

  • orthoxerox 5 hours ago

    Finally, a website that makes me feel like activating a superpower when I unlock the scroll wheel on my mouse.

    • dolin_ch 4 hours ago

      Ahahah. But it's more for your thumb, on mobile.

  • fredelt 4 hours ago

    What a great time, accompanied by smiles at the punchlines. I love the idea. Thank you for the time wasted.

    • dolin_ch 4 hours ago

      Really happy to read this comment, thank you so much !

  • fuidani 6 hours ago

    you made my day!

    • dolin_ch 5 hours ago

      Ahahah, really happy

  • leosanchez 6 hours ago

    Did I hear a moan after pausing around 200m ?

  • gus_massa 2 days ago

    Can you add an option to switch to feet? :)

    • sebastiennight 3 hours ago

      Most people scroll using their thumbs. Your touchscreen must be quite large

      • dolin_ch 2 hours ago

        As large as possible ;)

    • nixass 5 hours ago

      Why not Fahrenheits while at it?

    • dolin_ch 14 hours ago

      But there is no end