I open a website because I want to read something.
Before I reach the first paragraph, I close a cookie banner, dismiss a newsletter modal, deny notifications, watch a video buffer in the corner, dodge a chatbot, and dig for the article under a sticky promo bar. By the time I’m reading, I’m already tired.
What happened
Websites stopped being places to read and became machines for capturing attention. The shift was gradual enough that the people building them normalized it too.
The logic goes: a reader is a potential subscriber. A potential subscriber might click a button. If the button matters, make it bigger. If bigger is good, floating is better, and animated is better still.
The content ends up competing with the interface.
The irony
These patterns exist to build an audience, to get people to return, subscribe, and share. But they’re the same patterns that make reading unpleasant.
I don’t share articles that interrupted me. I don’t subscribe to popups. I don’t return to sites that made me hunt for content.
I do return to sites where I could read without friction. Their restraint feels like respect.
Why I love Hacker News
Most mornings, or late at night, I make coffee or tea and start exploring. Hacker News is simple, straight to the point. No popups, no modals, just a list of links and comments. Exactly what a doorway to good reading should be.
It’s the same reason I use Linux. The terminal doesn’t compete for your attention. It waits.
Blogs I like
These are the kind of sites I keep coming back to, and the kind I want this site to be.
- Steph Ango: minimal, writing-first, mixes software and personal topics.
- Derek Sivers: barely any design, mostly writing about programming, life, and books.
- Julia Evans: a simple technical blog about things she’s learning.
- Mitchell Hashimoto: quiet interface, the writing does the work.
- Tania Rascia: a developer site that doesn’t feel like a portfolio.
What I take from them: the reader reaches the content immediately, with no ads, popups, animations, or engagement counters. Few colors, good typography, simple navigation. Personal, not corporate.
If you made it here without anything competing for your attention, the experiment worked.