Ads on the Web

Ads on websites often annoy people. A lot. Some people will spend a lot of time and effort to prevent ads from showing up in their web browser. Popup killers, image blockers and special hosts files that stop DNS lookups for known ad/banner servers are some methods used to get rid of the resented ads and make the web a bit more usable.

In Advertisements on the Web and how to make them less annoying Joe Gillespie of Web Page Design for Designers looks closer at why online advertising tends to be so annoying to so many people. He makes some very good points in this article. Irritating ads are irrelevant, persistent, sneaky, insulting, aggressive, and get in the way. Ads that are less irritating, and thus have a greater chance of actually working, are relevant, informative, and entertaining (anyone wanna buy some “Clearly Superior ACME Transparent Pixel GIFs”?).

A very interesting read if you ever find yourself having to design an online ad.

Posted on December 7, 2003 in Usability

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