Wed. Apr 03, 2002
Some Space Is Not For Sale
Some Space Is Not For Sale – I expect to see all kinds of weird advertising within my browser ”portal,” the portion of a browser that displays web pages. Flash critters dancing across entire pages, epilepsy inducing banner ads, ads that purposely imitate operating system components in hopes the unwary will click them … it’s all unfortunately part of visual landscape on much of the web.
But the box it was in was well defined. No longer.
"A New York online ad technology firm, United Virtualities, is preparing to introduce a product that will allow advertisers to automatically change the appearance of Web browsers…"
"In a demo version of a Weather.com-themed browser prepared by United Virtualities, visitors can see their gray browser toolbars transformed into an image of a setting sun, with the Weather.com logo appearing behind the toolbar icons. Even the toolbar options would change. The ’home’ icon on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, for instance, would become a ’Weather Channel’ icon, steering users back to Weather.com’s main page when they click on it. Sponsored links to other Web sites would replace Internet Explorer tools like ’edit’..."
Some of us have carefully customized toolbars which we depend on for various tasks. Speaking solely for myself, the first time I go to a site that changes my buttons, toolbar background, or layout, will be the last time I go to that site. They will join Salon in my never-visited personal pit of ”Those Who Went Too Far.”
I truly understand the need for more ad revenues at large web sites. But just because you’ve found a new way to plaster an entire landscape with ads doesn’t mean that you should.
Published 07:55AM, Wed, Apr 03 2002
Category: Advertising
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Peanut Gallery
Hey, that's a great little program. I will recommend it. Speaking of obnoxious ads, I hate those flash ads too - the ones that go all over your screen, hiding the words you are trying to read -- you have to wait until the ad is done. I have cable hookup, but until recently I used a standard phone line. Basically I could not visit some sites from home because of those ads.
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weather.com is the worst. I got sick of their full-screen flash ads a while back, so I wrote my own weather scraper. Feel free to bookmark your zipcode. Hour-by-hour and 10 day forecast with a single click and NO ads.