Dilbert Goes Flash, Readers Revolt

spagiola writes "The Dilbert.com website just got an extreme makeover. Gone is the old, rather clunky but perfectly functional, website, replaced by a Flash-heavy website that only Mordac the Preventer of Information Services could love. Users have been pretty unanimous in condemning the changes. Among the politer comments: 'Congrats. Vista is no more lonely at the top in the Competition For The Worst Upgrade In Computing Industry, this web site upgrade being a serious contender.' You have to register to leave comments, but many seem to have registered for the express purpose of panning the new design."

Heh

"You have to register to leave comments, but many seem to have registered for the express purpose of panning the new design."

I know some PHBs that would consider the boom in registrations as a positive thing.

Re:Heh

"some" meaning "all"

Re:Heh

Pure genius!

Only Scott Adams could come up with such a great parody. That's one way to get your cartoon talked about - screw it up in a way that only a PHB would love. Get on the front page of Slashdot. Energize your audience!

Actually, much of it is accessable.

Clearly, there is some flash on the site, but I can still view all the comics without it.

Re:Actually, much of it is accessable.

Where I work flash is blocked from installing, my morning routine used to be to open Dilbert and have a read while some of the other apps I use slowly load. With no flash on your browser all you get is two coloured bars and two requests to install flash. I'm betting alot of corporate places follow similar practices.
I thought the old site was dated but after just glancing at the new one, I definitly want the old back.
No I'm not time wasting, it takes Outlook and Eclipse about a minute+ to load, more than enough time to pop open an IE tab and glance at Dilbert.

Re:Actually, much of it is accessable.

Where I work flash is blocked from installing, my morning routine used to be to open Dilbert and have a read while some of the other apps I use slowly load. With no flash on your browser all you get is two coloured bars and two requests to install flash. I'm betting alot of corporate places follow similar practices.
I thought the old site was dated but after just glancing at the new one, I definitly want the old back.

No I'm not time wasting, it takes Outlook and Eclipse about a minute+ to load, more than enough time to pop open an IE tab and glance at Dilbert.

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/dilbert [yahoo.com]

Here ya go. It's SYNDICATED, people. That means, dilbert.com isn't the only place to get it. Woo~.

Re:Actually, much of it is accessable.

Ok, you non web-2.0-adopting retrograds... here's the html version:
http://www.comics.com/comics/dilbert/archive/index.html [comics.com]

Excuse me while I emerge myself in the synergistic experience of the new flash interface, and step into the 21st (maybe even 22nd) century, while leaving you the prisoners of the old web 1.0

Can't leave well enough alone

This seems to be universal among web designers. They just aren't happy unless they're redesigning something to make it more complicated and less likely to work.

My award for "sticking with what works" goes to craigslist.org.

Re:Can't leave well enough alone

As a web programmer I'd say its that managers can't stop demanding new features. I spent half my time trying to talk people out of features my job would be so much easier if I just relented....

Re:Can't leave well enough alone

Look at this site, the reply to this buttons replaced a perfectly useful reply text link. Now the pages are 10% longer than they used to be and take forever to scroll on small screens. Since the change I have been coming to Slashdot maybe 10% of the time I used to. Does anyone know how to get the old slashdot back?

Re:Can't leave well enough alone

Disable Javascript. All the old behaviour comes back. Alternatively, go into Help & Preferences, Posting and select Slashdot Classic Discussion System.

While we're on the subject.

What's up with all the ajax and interface changes creeping in on slashdot ?

No Linux?

Here's what I sent them earlier on when discovering that part of the site even does not support Linux:

I really can't believe you show such a big lack of understanding of your target audience. Dilbert & Co. are engineers. Engineers read Dilbert because of how much it reflects the silly issues they face every day when dealing with clueless managers, marketeers, etc. It helps them to have a smile on their face in the face of office misery.

And then what do we get? A Dilbert site update that does not support Linux. In 2008. Guess what? Engineers use Linux. I've fought my PHBs for the right to do so back in 1999 and I won. About the whole department has been Linux-on-the-desktop ever since...

My MBA (yes, I have one of those as well and yet I still use Linux) tells me that you're making a classical mistake of many companies that once were successful. Note the tense of that!

April 17, 2008: A day that will live in infamy.

And that's just one of my gripes. The new UI is clunky; the site is slow; ...

Re:No Linux?

And try going to the next strip....
No previous or next button on any of the pages...

BRILLIANT!

Re:No Linux?

BrianRegan.com got flashed a year or so back and I sent a complaint email (parts of it didn't work in Opera). Next thing I know, Brian used my first name for one of the dumber characters in a comic routine. So I'd suggest complaining anonymously...

Well, a good, unintended slashdotting ...

Ought to make them think a little more carefully about extensive use of resource-heavy options such as Flash. :-)

Damn I'm good

I must be a flippin mind reader or able to see into the future. I just wrote about [slashdot.org] this kind of nonsense.

It's a freaking static cartoon! What possible asinine reason could there be to screw up such a simple concept? I saw this the other day and so, like Doonesbury, won't be visiting it any more due to their use of Flash.

Re:Damn I'm good

I must be a flippin mind reader or able to see into the future. I just wrote about [slashdot.org] this kind of nonsense.

It's a freaking static cartoon! What possible asinine reason could there be to screw up such a simple concept? I saw this the other day and so, like Doonesbury, won't be visiting it any more due to their use of Flash.

Well, they do have this cool user-submitted "Mashup" system, where you can click on a Dilbert strip and re-write the punchline -- it's then put on a voting site where people can vote and comment on it. I thought that was brilliant, myself...

Probably a Consultant

It was probably some outside consultant that convinced them of the perceived need to produce a "competitive" web-site in today's market, and only this garbage will do.

Don't these PHB clowns realize that it's content that draws people to a site, and excessive bandwidth, insecure plug-ins required, inane registration requirements, and slow downloads that drive them away again.

Scott Adam's personal e-mail address is well-known (remember to put 'Dilbert' in the subject line to slip past his spam filter). One can still complain to him directly.

non flash dilbert

Good thing you can still get your dilbert fix at http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/ [unitedmedia.com]

At Least it's not Silverlight

At Least it's not Silverlight...

Come over to the dark side

Most person becomes that which they most rail against. More often than not, these people realize that those they railed against, for instance the PHB, were just doing things that they could not at that point understand. It has been interesting to see Scott Adams descend into the PHB. The PHB that is continuously coming up with new ways to make a profit, and has little concern with quality or application. Be it outsourcing to unqualified labour or redesigning a web site, the PHB is interested in earning, not customers or quality. This is why engineers have such trouble dealing with them. Engineers are taught that their job is to make the world better, and it is unethical to cut corners primarily to increase profits.

SO, this website redesign proves that Dilbert has become the PHB. A design not help the customers or users, but to help the bottom line. How does it hep. Well, for one, it put Dilbert on the front page of /. after I don't know how long. It is an marketing gimmick, nothing more. Dilbert is irrelevant, and when one is irrelevent, there is little else to do but employ gimmicks. OTOH, I am sure it will work. Admas will sell some of his collected blog entries, people will reminisce about the good old days, and many will complain simply because they cannot understand that a business must generate a good profit.

Double standard...

I flash MY dilbert and I get four months.

Don't use JavaScript, problem solved

The site is still perfectly functional and showing the strips using plain old .GIFs... *if* you use NoScript.

Allow JavaScript to run and the whole thing blows up in your face and splatters flash everywhere.

repeat old stuff for a new generation

Since then, Adams has just been going over and over the same handful of gags

That's OK, it's just a genreational change.

Each generation is arrogant enough to ignore the collected wisdom of what's gone before, so it makes the same old mistakes. Hence Dilbert is just as popular with the new "breed" of readers as it was with the last lot. The reason is they get just as frustrated with the same bosses making the same mistakes as their forebears. No doubt in 100 years time, people will still be grousing about the incompetence of their superiors and Scott Adams, or his grandchildren, will still be making money out of it.