6 Outdated Internet Trends Best Forgotten
We’ve all seen them come and go – the outdated internet trends that everyone at the time thought would revolutionise the way we functioned online. It’s good that these things come and go – in reality it’s the way the internet keeps moving forward and new developments exist. Here, then, are 6 outdated internet trends best forgotten and not mentioned again.
QR Codes
Remember QR codes, that seemed to be everywhere but nobody really seemed to use? Best these are forgotten altogether – a lot of marketing teams and designers spent a lot of time and money implementing these on their material – only to find that their use was relatively minimal – and often they’d only take you to a website you could navigate to conventionally anyway.
Like Gating
That horrible moment you find the site you’ve been looking for for ages, and you can’t access any of it, or any of its content, because you have to like them on social media first. As if they’re shouting ‘love me, love me’ before you’re allowed anywhere near. Not only is this annoying – it stinks of old internet tactics – quantity over quality. The small gifts and tokens of goodwill offered in return may mean that many people ‘liked’ the page, but then swiftly forgot about the company or moved elsewhere.
Constantly Switching Browsers
Remember the days when you were downloading hundreds of different browsers and kept switching between them to help you decide which one is best? That operation is pretty much redundant – as one browser can do almost anything you want of it and at twice the speed of all the other browsers you downloaded in the past.
Flash
It’s bad for SEO, and today it’s appearing more and more clunky – but some websites are dedicated to still using this outdated internet fad. Flash was always going to be outdated quickly – but some people are still convinced they can create something cutting edge with it. If there’s an opportunity to redesign your site if you’re still using flash – take it. Google and your customer base will both be thankful.
Autoplay
Autoplay videos and sound files are best forgotten, as they take an element of control away from the user. Not only was this incredibly annoying, it goes against what everyone wants today – giving the user and the potential customer as much say and control over what happens as possible.
Pop Ups
Although you still see pop ups on a regular basis, they are beginning to become increasingly shunned by the general public as, again, they provide the user with no control. You still see them on a regular basis, but sometimes these days they are more targeted and offering a service or a sign-up that the user might actually want. Thankfully, the days of needless selling shoved down your throat with popups you can’t control, and can’t get rid of, are over.
There are likely to be thousands more of these kind of things before the current age of the internet is over – and in many ways that’s a good thing. The web needs constant redevelopment, redesign and innovation and, in an ‘out with the old, in with the new’ kind of way, that’s a very good thing.
