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Comment by dsacco | Hacker News Reader

A stylistic critique here: I think the trend of taking a quote from the article and presenting it on its own somewhere else on the page is overused, especially in blogs and magazines.

For example, in this article, we have a sentence pulled from the article and presented in a larger font with italics, a quote block and green text:

If this was three guys in college looking to try and get their prototype into the world, great. But this isn’t a start-up.

This seems like a poor sentence to use for two reasons:

1. That sentence literally appears immediately before the quote block in the article in a vertical layout, which means I read the same sentence twice, back to back.

2. The sentence itself doesn't seem...noteworthy?

It seems like this concept was cargo culted from the design zeitgeist of modern magazines, to the point that it's worked in as stylistic sugar where it doesn't really make sense.

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I agree with you. I've always assumed these things were used to catch somebody's eye as they flipped through the pages of a newspaper or magazine, as highlights to draw the reader into the content. I haven't been able to figure out what value anybody thinks they provide online for the same reasons you point out. They are just irritating repetition.

I think it's fairly common for people to read the first 1 or 2 paragraphs, then scroll down to the conclusion + comments. Pull quotes are likely a way to re-engage those users, thus increase their time spent on the page + ad impressions.

| Pull quotes are likely a way to re-engage those users, thus increase their time spent on the page + ad impressions.

I agree though, execution is pretty hit or miss.

I guess I do that sometimes, though I scroll too quick for pull quotes to matter. Usually I'm going for the comments anyway.

This is very common, specially in longer content. I think a lot of people are in the habit of just skimming through too many articles, rather than fully reading fewer ones that they more selectively chose. In response, publishers try to do anything they can to catch your eye and keep your attention “here”, rather than you quickly moving on to something else. And probably as content becomes more “skimmable” this way, people in turn make even more use of these flashy bits, re-enforcing this vicious circle. I find them annoying because it reminds me that the content is simultaneously trying to appeal to both skimmers and focused readers but has no idea which kind I am at the moment I’m reading it (I might be either).

>I find them annoying because it reminds me that the content is simultaneously trying to appeal to both skimmers and focused readers but has no idea which kind I am at the moment I’m reading it (I might be either).

This is a good general UI point too I think!

Kind of like watching a trailer for the movie you’re currently watching.

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