It's ridiculous, and many websites are just as bloated.
Not for the first time, I blame CSS, and the marketing-driven economic incentives that popularized it. Too much graphic design turned the web from something resembling a living book to something resembling a glossy magazine, along with the ads and the promotion of sensation over substance. I sometimes find myself missing TUIs and being able to meaningfully customize your user experience.
But this was always unavoidable, because it turns out non-HN users like glossy magazines. So the internet will always either be niche and text-only or glossy and popular
Not for the first time, I blame CSS, and the marketing-driven economic incentives that popularized it. Too much graphic design turned the web from something resembling a living book to something resembling a glossy magazine, along with the ads and the promotion of sensation over substance. I sometimes find myself missing TUIs and being able to meaningfully customize your user experience.