Scrollbars. Ever heard of them? They’re pretty cool. Click and drag on a scrollbar and you can move content around in a scrollable content pane. I love that shit. Every day I am scrolling on my computer, all day long. But the scrollbars are getting smaller and this is increasingly becoming a problem. I would show you screenshots but they’re so small that even screenshotting them is hard to do. And people keep making them even smaller, hiding them away, its like they don’t want you to scroll! “Ah”, they say, “that’s what the scroll wheel is for”. My friend, not everyone can use a scroll wheel or a swipe up touch screen. And me, a happy scroll-wheeler, even I would like to quickly jump around some time.
Computer UI design is what is being discussed; not really pre-internet media.
What happened is that pro tools became available to unskilled, untalented, and unseasoned amateurs around 2000. I think what’s being criticized is the “web 2.0” trend that arose when every nincompoop with cracked copies of Adobe/Macromedia Suite(s) could produce and publish trash, as became sooooo easy and cheap. Whereas prior to this shift in technology, design had to be well-conceived and intentional because proofing and publishing was an expensive barrier to tom-fuckery by hobbyists.
e: spel