No, it's still bad. For example, it hijacks the space bar. You're spacing/pgdwning like normal when it pops out, then it hijacks the space to open up a nag modal. It was terrible when it was Clippy, it's terrible when it's a Bob the Builder avatar. Comeau's website never sparks joy in me because I'm always wondering what the next bullshit will be (was this the one which for a while was doing sparkles after the mouse?).
I seriously wonder if a person exists that likes being bothered when they're trying to read something? If that's not the case, and in fact nobody likes this, why anyone would think that this was a good idea?
I personally don't find this particular popup bothering. I can continue to read the page without interruption. I also understand that they want me to subscribe or whatever so I know when their next article is up.
Can you give examples of sites that do spark joy for you? Whenever I encounter hate for certain design decisions online I like to know the alternative I should strive to follow instead.
HN
The person who complained, Gwern, has their own site at https://www.gwern.net/. It’s another article-focused site, so the designs should be mostly comparable. However, Gwern’s articles are much longer, so their design choices might reflect that.
For me Page Down does not trigger the click on the "Sure" button of the small popup. That would be a really weird thing. Space does, because the element is focused automatically (which is kinda bad imo).
Heh, I didn't like it, I never like when something pops up and animates on a website after a timer while you're reading, I never like when something overlays any part left or right of the text you're trying to read, and I never like when you have to close something to continue distraction free. This thing is exactly an aggressive modal popup.
When it showed up, I gasped and jerked my hands away from the keyboard. It felt like a jump scare.
It honestly scared me too when I saw it pop out of the side of the screen. I've viewed this blog before and had the same reaction. It's cute, but I'm sure you and I aren't alone.