Give Me Back My Mouse

I don't usually critique web sites or software on this blog, but I'm going to doff my grumpy Luddite hat for a moment and replace it with my grumpy armchair web critic hat.

One of the design principles behind the modern, spiffy web sites ("AJAX" or whatever the kids are calling it now) is apparently "make stuff happen without mouse clicks."  Rollover buttons are nothing new, but now we get instant popup menus and graphics.  Go to Amazon.com if you don't know what I'm talking about.  When you mouse over some (but not all) of the headings across the top of the page, big rectangular mini-pages pop out in front, obscuring the rest of the page.

What's bad about this?  It typically happens unpredictably, it obscures content unnecessarily, and I'd bet it doesn't save the user any time.  Most of all, it irritates me because I am a restless mouser, and I suspect others are similarly afflicted.  When I'm reading a page, my mouse moves all over, double-clicking on words or tracing patterns.  Whether the result of ADD or some other neurosis, I don't know.  I like to think it's akin to doodling.  On today's web it's getting harder to find unadorned free space for restless mouse doodling.

Amazon is not a particularly bad example, and I'm sure they do plenty of user testing to keep it from getting too objectionable.  Earlier iterations of their site were worse.  Slate.com's home page is another example.  If your mouse strays too far to the left then boom -- out pops a bit array of text links, obscuring the entire center panel of main headlines.  You then have to mouse down to the bottom to close, which is at least better than an earlier design that didn't have a close button at all, so you had to mouse far away and just wait for this monstrosity it do disappear.

I doubt the designers do this to minimize mouse clicks.  Fewer clicks are often good, especially for repetitive tasks, but that's not usually a concern with web pages.  My guess is that it's just a fashion thing -- it looks slicker and the newer code makes it easy to do, so why not?

So, while I generally like the newer, frame-free, active web pages, I object to designers hijacking my mouse for other functions.  Let me control my mouse!  I'll click when I'm ready to click.