The Generation Wealth title page is one of many on the IMDb site that endeavors to "stand out" via a customized color scheme and advertising content. I gather this is an "Enhanced Title Page" as purchased by the producers or distributors of the documentary. The "IMDb" logo in the upper left corner even changes to read "IMD$" on mouseover, which I'm sure is very clever.
Personally, in the case of the Generation Wealth title page I think it looks like a radioactive clown got sick all over the listing, and I can't imagine someone actually paying to have their entry ruined like that, but whatever — gotta keep the lights on, right? None of that is my issue here.
No, the issue is that someone appears to have taken advantage of (abused) the "enhanced" page styling to defeat one of the site's useful informational features: The graying-out of categories for which the title does not have any data.
The Generation Wealth category dropdown looks like this:
But, most of those categories are actually empty, there's nothing to be found there. None of the "Did You Know?" categories contains any data at all. But you have to click on them to find that out:
On a title using the default styling, the empty category links would be dimmed, to avoid a visitor wasting their time clicking on those links. Here's the dropdown for The Happytime Murders, for example:
Like I said, I understand that the IMDb needs to do what it takes to keep the lights on, and I certainly don't object to the selling of so-called "Enhanced" title pages. But advertisers shouldn't be able to buy the ability to make us waste our time clicking on useless links, because they've hidden useful information with their garish advertising. That I most certainly do find objectionable.
Personally, in the case of the Generation Wealth title page I think it looks like a radioactive clown got sick all over the listing, and I can't imagine someone actually paying to have their entry ruined like that, but whatever — gotta keep the lights on, right? None of that is my issue here.
No, the issue is that someone appears to have taken advantage of (abused) the "enhanced" page styling to defeat one of the site's useful informational features: The graying-out of categories for which the title does not have any data.
The Generation Wealth category dropdown looks like this:
But, most of those categories are actually empty, there's nothing to be found there. None of the "Did You Know?" categories contains any data at all. But you have to click on them to find that out:
On a title using the default styling, the empty category links would be dimmed, to avoid a visitor wasting their time clicking on those links. Here's the dropdown for The Happytime Murders, for example:
Like I said, I understand that the IMDb needs to do what it takes to keep the lights on, and I certainly don't object to the selling of so-called "Enhanced" title pages. But advertisers shouldn't be able to buy the ability to make us waste our time clicking on useless links, because they've hidden useful information with their garish advertising. That I most certainly do find objectionable.
Posted 2 years ago
