All my clients wanted a carousel, now it's an AI chatbot
A seasoned web developer vents frustrations about clients who consistently demand trendy, often useless, web features like chatbots, driven by a fear of appearing outdated rather than actual utility. This incisive critique of client-side FOMO and the bloat it creates on the web resonated deeply with the HN community. The piece deftly skewers the 'keeping up with the Joneses' mentality that plagues web development, sparking collective recognition and a lively debate.
The Lowdown
The article, penned by a frustrated web developer, chronicles the perennial client demand for trendy, often superfluous, web features. From the carousel to the cookie banner, and now the AI chatbot, these additions are rarely driven by utility but rather by a 'fear of looking behind,' prompting the author to question the very purpose of modern web design.
- The author recounts a history of client requests for non-functional features like carousels and cookie banners, adopted due to trend-following rather than user benefit.
- The latest iteration is the AI chatbot, which clients insist upon despite admitting they find similar chatbots annoying and unhelpful on other sites.
- The core driver is identified as 'visibility' and 'social signaling'—a desire to appear modern and 'keeping up,' even if the feature itself is useless or detrimental to user experience.
- Attempts to advocate for 'smolweb' principles (fast, minimal, content-focused sites) are often dismissed by clients as 'simple,' implying a lack of impressiveness or perceived value.
- The author concludes that the pressure isn't truly from clients but from a broader web culture of bloat and feature arms races, hoping that user demand for better experiences might eventually shift the paradigm.
Ultimately, the article paints a relatable picture of the developer's Sisyphean task: building features that clients demand for optics, while secretly wishing for a web that prioritizes genuine utility and user experience.
The Gossip
LLM Lingo & Literary Lore
A significant portion of the discussion revolved around whether the article itself was written by an AI, or at least heavily influenced by LLM-like writing styles. Commenters pointed to specific stylistic patterns, such as the 'it's not X, it's Y' phrasing, as characteristic of AI output. While some vehemently defended the author's human authorship, arguing that LLMs merely emulate human writing and such styles existed long before AI, others insisted the text bore an unmistakable 'AI smell,' leading to a distracting reading experience for some.
Fearful Feature-Creep
Many commenters echoed the author's sentiment that client demands for features like chatbots stem from a 'fear of looking behind' rather than genuine utility. This FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) drives businesses to adopt trendy, often costly and inefficient, solutions. Several shared anecdotes of these features providing little value or even causing problems, like a non-profit incurring high API costs for a barely used, poorly implemented chatbot. The consensus among many was that stakeholders, not actual users, primarily push for these additions.
Consultant's Conundrums & Web Woes
The discussion extended to the role of consultants in perpetuating these trends, with many criticizing them for pushing 'bad bots' and expensive, often useless, integrations. Commenters lamented that many consultants, despite public presence, seem disconnected from real-world problems. The broader sentiment was a shared frustration with the current state of the web, characterized by bloat, annoying pop-ups, and a focus on 'impressiveness' over user experience, reflecting a long-standing pattern of non-technical decision-makers influencing web development, a phenomenon dating back decades.