The very title of his post sounds a bit odd, doesn’t it. I mean, I don’t want you to skip my blog posts–I want you to see them. Geez, if I thought you should skip them I wouldn’t write them at all. That makes sense, doesn’t it. But why do we think it’s sensible to ask people to skip our content? Yet I see Web sites that do it every day and I don’t think we question it enough.
How often do you come to a Web page that loads some annoying Flash/video/podcast (pick one) when you just wanted to get some information? It’s like they thought if you dared to stop by, they can show you whatever they want. They can show you a commercial before you actually get what you want.
And that is incredibly annoying because it wastes your time. And I think everyone hates it. But instead of taking it down, what do they do instead?
They put a button on the incredibly annoying intrusion that says, “Click here to bypass this waste of your time.” OK, OK, that isn’t the exact wording, but that’s what they do. Why does that make it all better?
Do you think they ever check to see what an overwhelming number of people click that button? Or bail out of the site completely?
Here’s a usability tip: If you think you need a link that says “Skip this,” then you should just get rid of whatever “it” is. Your customers will thank you for it.
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