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Comment by TZubiri | Hacker News Reader

Hard disagree.

First of all. Not using escape key to escape is the standard for almost all applications since the 90s. Do you use escape to close the browser? A tab? your email client? No. All software converged on the idea that a close button was not a good idea, we are left with the actual button as a vestige.

Second of all, this software is designed for people in high stress situations where one of their main goals is to avoid detection, they will not only memorize the escape sequence, but they will likely have their finger on the shift key at all times.

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Using the Escape key to close dialogs is the standard for almost all desktop applications since the 90s, though.

^This. Closing an entire application with the possibility of losing important state? No, we don't want a button that does that (though a button combination is OK because that's less likely to be accidentally triggered). Closing an ephemeral popup that is distracting from the main page? Absolutely, `Esc` that.

I have my doubts about how sure you are that people in high stress situations will memorize the escape sequence for one website.

I think as devs we often think of our site or application as the center of the user's universe, but I don't think users memorize the minutia of our applications like we think / would hope.

Also, I actually worked with folks in abusive relationships at one time, their actions are not as predictable as you might hope.

> one website

I'm guessing gov.uk is hoping that this will become some kind of standard, at least for British resources.

Ah, I misunderstood the scope of the tool.

I thought this was a tool that users specifically install in order to browse any content.

But instead it seems this is simply a feature so that users that browse gov.uk websites specifically can exit.

> I think as devs we often think of our site or application as the center of the user's universe

Jakob's law is a thing but I actually think in the case of GDS they are in the fairly rare position of perhaps being able to justify the hubris you speak of slightly.

Not only are they directly or indirectly responsible for the UI of a frankly staggering number of online services, they are also one of the most influential bodies - perhaps in the world - when it comes to this sort of thing.

My only concern about setting a standard (beyond the usual process of setting a standard) it's that a standard for what exactly? All the other government sites that ... you don't need this key sequence on?

For the user I think that still means asking them to memorize something odd for a very limited use case that you won't think of visiting any other government site.

I think the OP's main point is "press shift 3 times" is a very uncommon and unintuitive keyboard shortcut. What do you disagree with?

Why not exit the tab with Ctrl-W?

Hard disagree. I use it (and it works) so much that the rare occasion it doesn't is jarring.

Not to close a tab or entire application, no, but to unfocus a field, close a modal window or ad pop-up, back in something like a Typeform, etc.

> Not using escape key to escape is the standard for almost all applications since the 90s.

Really? I always hit "escape" when I get a popover on a website, and it often works.

Many TUI interfaces use it for "go back" or "exit" e.g. BIOS settings.

> Second of all, this software is designed for people in high stress situations where one of their main goals is to avoid detection

FTFA: `It’s intended to be a safety tool. A way for people in unstable, potentially violent, domestic situations to quickly leave the page.`

This is the craziest part of this entire article to me. The UK Government needed to invent a whole design system that included an "ejection seat" button in case you're caught looking at UK Government websites?

Or does this button exist because one website in particular needed this feature?

Over design much?

It is specifically for websites offering help escaping domestic abuse or similar stuff:

> When to use this component > > Use the component on pages with sensitive information that could: > - put someone at risk of abuse or retaliation > - reveal someone’s plans to avoid or escape from harm > > For example, when a potential victim is using a service to help them leave a domestic abuser.

https://design-system.service.gov.uk/components/exit-this-pa...

IMO this seems quite well designed.

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