It’s pretty amazing to think that the Internet, which is practically a basic daily commodity for most of us, is only about 35 years old. As I’m 55 years old when writing this post, I still remember when blogs had funny backgrounds, a visitor counter at the bottom, and little animations. Blogs were personal online diaries—made not for profit, but for the pure joy of sharing, experimenting, exploring, and maybe even reaching out. People wrote about themselves, websites had simple HTML, simple design, and user experience? What’s that?!
Coming across websites where more than 50% of the page area is covered with ads gets me thinking a few things. First: is “bombing” your site with annoying ads every few sentences really that effective? No, The Coalition for Better Ads (CBA), an industry group, has a standard that states “when mobile ads take up more than 30% of the vertical height of the main content portion of the page, the result is a disruptive ad experience. Second: get out of here ASAP. Third: I start reminiscing about how things were a couple of decades ago – I remember Animation Express, originally part of HotWired. It was a pioneering digital project of Wired magazine, their website hotwired.com was active around 1998 to 2002, featuring a selection of Flash, Shockwave, and QuickTime web animations, serving as one of the earliest showcases for independent animators. Some of the stuff can be found via web.archive.org/
Although advertising can help support free journalism, some web sites cross the line with disruptive ads, clickbait and even deceptive (for ex. fake close ad button). Found yourself battling ads and popups? Exit asap and look for another site. Lets bring back those non profitable blogs!
Check out the animation category for more gems