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## The unreasonable effectiveness of simple HTML https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/01/the-unreasonable-effectiveness-of-simple-html/ I've told this story at conferences - but due to _the general situation_ I thought I'd retell it here. A few years ago I was doing policy research in a housing benefits office in London. They are singularly unlovely places. The walls are brightened up with posters offering helpful services for people fleeing domestic violence. The security guards on the door are cautiously indifferent to anyone walking in. The air is filled with tense conversations between partners - drowned out by the noise of screaming kids. In the middle, a young woman sits on a hard plastic chair. She is surrounded by canvas-bags containing her worldly possessions. She doesn't look like she is in a great emotional place right now. Clutched in her hands is a games console - a PlayStation Portable. She stares at it intensely; blocking out the world with Candy Crush. Or, at least, that's what I thought. Walking behind her, I glance at her console and recognise the screen she's on. She's connected to the complementary WiFi and is browsing the GOV.UK pages on Housing Benefit. She's not slicing fruit; she's arming herself with knowledge. The PSP's web browser is - charitably - pathetic. It is slow, frequently runs out of memory, and can only open 3 tabs at a time. But the GOV.UK pages are written in simple HTML. They are designed to be lightweight and will work even on rubbish browsers. They have to. This is for everyone. Not everyone has a big monitor, or a multi-core CPU burning through the teraflops, or a broadband connection. The photographer Chase Jarvis coined the phrase "the best camera is the one that’s with you". He meant that having a crappy instamatic with you at an important moment is better than having the best camera in the world locked up in your car. The same is true of web browsers. If you have a smart TV, it probably has a crappy browser. My old car had a built-in crappy web browser. Both are painful to use - but _they work!_ If your laptop and phone both got stolen - how easily could you conduct online life through the worst browser you have? If you have to file an insurance claim online - will you get sent a simple HTML form to fill in, or a DOCX which won't render? What vital information or services are forbidden to you due to being trapped in PDFs or horrendously complicated web sites? Are you developing public services? Or a system that people might access when they're in desperate need of help? Plain HTML works. A small bit of simple CSS will make look decent. JavaScript is probably unnecessary - but can be used to progressively enhance stuff. Add alt text to images so people paying per MB can understand what the images are for (and, you know, accessibility). Go sit in an uncomfortable chair, in an uncomfortable location, and stare at an uncomfortably small screen with an uncomfortably outdated web browser. How easy is it to use the websites you've created? I chatted briefly to the young woman afterwards. She'd been kicked out by her parents and her friends had given her the bus fare to the housing benefits office. She had nothing but praise for how helpful the staff had been. I asked about the PSP - a hand-me-down from an older brother - and the web browser. Her reply was "It's shit. But it worked." I think that's all we can strive for. * * * Here are some stats on games consoles visiting GOV.UK > Matt Hobbs (@[email protected]) > > @TheRealNooshu > > Replying to @TheRealNooshuInterestingly we have 3,574 users visiting GOV.UK on games consoles: > • Xbox - 2,062 > • Playstation 4 - 1,457 > • Playstation Vita - 25 > • Nintendo WiiU - 14 > • Nintendo 3DS - 16 > > 20/22 > > * * * > > ❤️ 27💬 1🔁 010:45 - Mon 01 February 2021 #HTML5 #web #WeekNotes #work

Everyone likes dark UX patterns – such fun! Ryanair are Europe’s most profitable airline and they are masters of this noble form. This is an all time classic from around 8 years ago – to not buy travel insurance, you must select **Don’t Insure Me** , midway down a list of countries: I have the joy of doing some budget flying this summer and I thought I’d see how upsell-alicious the check-in process is in Trumpyear 2026: I count 9 stages a user has to successfully navigate to avoid extra payment: 1. “No, don’t want to be insured” 2. Don’t be tricked into unlocking check-in for your return flight, this costs. 3. Roll the dice by finding and selecting the random seat option. _Do you feel lucky punk?_ 4. Confirm you understand the precarious and unsettling nature of random allocation. _Maybe you want a break from your companions?_ 5. “Last chance to choose where you sit” 6. Opt for 1 Small Bag **only**. A scary warning pops up about being charged at the gate. _To be fair, I did recently see this happen to a couple at the airport. They feebly argued their case – pun intended – but I completely agreed with the airline staff. If the case don’t fit…_ 7. Don’t click “Upgrade to Priority & 2 Cabin Bags”. This one is particularly sneaky as it doesn’t have a “No” option, you must dismiss the window. 8. Scroll past security fast track and pre-paid credit, which at least just needs a “Continue”. _The kid sitting next to me on the flight back bought some Versace aftershave and I pretended to care/be impressed because I am a nice person._ 9. Don’t rent a car, don’t buy parking, don’t buy a train(?) Tada – you are checked in. You get one final ad, I assume, for a Sam Altman fever dream in which humans EULA consent to become _foie gras_ in exchange for tokens: I will finish with an actually sensible/possibly useful postscript. Based on a small amount of recent experience, the best strategy for Ryanair is to check in at the last possible moment. If they’ve given away all the bad seats, they’ll be forced to give you a good one, and I got an exit aisle seat, which also gave access to the precious overhead bin. The best strategy for Lufthansa is to check in as early as possible. They still offer to sell you a “better” seat. But you can immediately see what spot you’re assigned, and they fill up the plane from front to back in a refreshingly old-fashioned manner, so earlier is better. Hope you enjoyed this, more soon. Dan **Try Langwag** Learn any language by reading the news