When did designers decide it was acceptable to not let users skip through or pause videos? Why are we allowing this anti-pattern to get entrenched?
@harris I assumed this was a decision by businesses and which the site developers had no say over, but I unfortunately discovered on PeerTube that some videos would autoplay, and that the HTML5 autoplay blocker extension was of little use. On cell phone browsers, it’s even worse. There is not even such a way to block autoplay on any browser that I’ve tried out.
@jotaemei Designers should be more principled about refusing anti-user work! It’s not autoplay in browsers that bugs me (especially since browsers now have protections against playing sound unprompted) as much as not having control over pausing or skipping through long videos (see Instagram reels, TikTok, etc.)
@harris I have a very old computer and generally many tabs open, so when videos start playing, they cause my browser to hang. I then have to force shut it down and reopen the app. So, being able to block autoplay makes a significant difference.
@jotaemei oof, very legit
@harris Yeah, I only recently gave in and set up an Instrgram account. It's irritating that I have no idea how long the videos will be playing for, and that the only option is to pause the clips. This is one of the reasons that I don't intend to spend much time on Instagram and will be looking at fediverse alternatives.
It's unfortunate to hear that Tik Tok adopts the same anti-user pattern.