Overengineered Anchor Links

Site and Layout Design

• Many readers found the layout novel and “slick”: inline side panes/tiles with animations that open next to the text kept context and were more pleasant than modals or new tabs.
• Others found it distracting or confusing: right-aligned content felt odd, the bright inline buttons broke reading flow, and the blur on floating UI elements drew unwanted attention.
• Several people initially thought the triggers were normal links and were briefly disoriented; suggestions included different styling, icons, hover states, and cursor:pointer.
• On mobile, some advocated auto-opening diagrams; others liked them closed but suggested a short “demo” tile to teach the interaction.
• There are bugs and browser quirks: pop-ins reportedly broken on Firefox, issues on Android and iOS, back navigation and scroll restoration behaving inconsistently.

Anchors, Scrolling, and Overengineering

• Many commenters felt the solution is overengineered and JS-heavy for a mild problem, especially when classic anchors and bottom padding or a large footer would largely fix it.
• Some strongly dislike any “scroll hijacking” (e.g., smooth-scroll libraries), arguing the site must not interfere with native scrolling at all.
• Alternative approaches proposed:
  • Simple: extra bottom margin or “giant footers” to ensure headings can reach the top.
  • Behavioral: Intersection Observer to mark active sections, highlighting all headings in view rather than a single one, or sticky/current headers.
  • Platform features: CSS scroll markers, text fragments, and details/summary elements.
• Several users reported that the final “beautiful” demo still mis-highlights sections or fails to bring the conclusion into view.

Accessibility, Semantics, and Shareability

• Strong criticism of using JS on non-interactive elements instead of real <a> anchors:
  • No keyboard navigation, no anchors without JS, and fragile custom elements that don’t render if JS fails.
  • URLs don’t expose #fragment anchors, so users can’t bookmark or deep-link sections.
• Some suggested combining real anchors (for URL and accessibility) with JS-only enhancements like temporary highlighting.

Meta Discussion: UX, Frontend, and Terminology

• Backend-oriented commenters expressed “horror” at frontend complexity; others replied that UI work is inherently messy because it deals with humans, not just data.
• Long subthread on UI/UX culture, user behavior, and “overdesign” versus necessary polish, with both respect and contempt for users and frontend practices on display.
• The section title “The final solution” triggered a debate: some saw it as insensitive or a potential dog-whistle given its Nazi association; others argued context and intent should matter, but most agreed it’s safer to avoid such phrases once flagged.