Yeah, 10 second load time, tiny text on a mobile device. No thanks. Sucks that people went for over-styling every site making everything painful to publish. I’d be happy with 90’s static HTML, and a few images when needed. I seek information, not “an experience”.
I had no idea what the content of the site was (besides the title from HN) and around the 50% download point, I had already lost interest. I'm clearly not the only one who loses interest this quick [0][1][2].
Also, as others have mentioned in root level comments, the design & layout of the content within is also severely lacking, which makes waiting for the load to occur even less worth it.
Exactly this. It is by the way one of the main reasons I initially stuck with HN. The lean UI, text based simplicity, efficiently conveying information had me instantly. I would sacrifize styling for speed anytime, everywhere.
On the contrary, I much prefer a small text on a mobile device to the reflowed text on a mobile device that we’re always forced to use. The PDF is also the same view as on a desktop, so if I look at it on another device, my spatial memory of where stuff is remains intact.
Might as well just generate a PNG. The text is too small for me on a mobile device. PDFs main goal was print. The fonts are awful for the screen and no ability to reflow the text.
I can deal with things moving around, I don't need spatial memory for that. Just give good titles, headers, and indexes. Again, we can do this with simple HTML, embed images and styles. It's all there.
Unfortunately, as I mentioned, people don't really publish information anymore. It's mainly for "experience" and for "looks". Marketing, and advertising, now drive the information era. The "Information Super Highway" is now just a crumbling road plastered with billboards. Most content is useless, and is there for clicks. Heck, I'd rather someone post their site in digests in e-book formats than PDF.
