#_2025
I recently ran across this [rachelbythebay](http://rachelbythebay.com/w/2025/01/04/cruft/) post about 'web page annoyances that I don't inflict on you here. I agreed with nearly every 'modern' web design principle she discourages (and does not force on her readers). Taking from her post, here is a bullet point list of what not to do (on static sites).
Do not...
- Force people to use Javascript
- Track 'engagement'
- Set cookies
- Use visitor IP addresses outside of a filtering abuse context
- Do pop-ups... anywhere
- Do animations
- Use autoplaying for video or audio
- Try to 'grab people' when they try to back out of a page (e.g. pop ups saying 'before you go...')
- Put things in the page which 'follow' users as they scroll
- Place floating buttons ('contact me')
- Mess with the scrolling bars of the browser itself
- Use invisible icons or other seedy tracker techniques
- Use icons for 'sharing' or 'liking' the page
- Use outgoing links to report back on which links were clicked
- Place clickbait
Thanks, Rachel by the Bay, for the succinct and helpful post!