Adobe still doesn’t understand this “world wide web” thang…

Given how badly Flash is getting smacked-down at the moment, I find this hilarious.

Right now, Adobe.com’s store page (where you get redirected if you google for Adobe products) doesn’t work in a mainstream desktop browser (Firefox). I go to the page, and suddenly my keyboard stops working, and the mouse is only half working. WTF?

Ah. A bit of digging, and I find crap like this:

…fully “custom” scrollbar, which I suspect is disabling keyboard and mouse input.

What does this achieve?

1. HEY! It looks “different”!
2. Confusing: looks like a Tab, instead of a scrollbar
3. Reduces performance: this scrollbar *flickers* as you drag it, because the rendering routine is so horrendously slow. This is on a Core2 Duo processor that’s not doing anything else.

What does it break (aside from performance)?

1. Keyboard navigation: spacebar, cursor keys, and left/right switch tab (VERY annoying: it seizes control of your keyboard and won’t let you navigate away)
2. Mouse navigation: it bypasses the web-browser (stupid idea, Adobe), and so all the mouse gestures – even the OS-built-ins like 2-finger-scroll – stop working

It’s like a microcosm of why people get frustrated with Adobe – and perhaps of how Flash is going to go down in flames. It would be subtle and clever if today were April 1st:

1. Who cares what the user thinks? Give them useless crap that doesn’t even look pretty! (think of the features added in most revisions of CS)
2. …but FORCE it on them, too; choice is bad! (recall the Adobe trojan that they wrote to take over your PC and force-install Adobe products)
3. Performance? Who cares about performance? (Illustrator and large files … nuff said)