Copenhagen Zoo: Squeezing Every Penny
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
Click on the image to enlarge.
The Copenhagen Zoo elected to hire Bates Y&R for their new media ad campaign. Being a snake owner, I love the new ads, but I don’t think you have to be a fan of reptiles to appreciate the brilliance that went into its design. Beautifully executed and wonderfully imagined. Absolutely inspirational.
The Hidden Cost of Banners and Online Advertising
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
We all love ads. I mean, what’s not to like? They’re obtrusive, compete for our attention, distract us, slow down our browsing, sometimes crash our browsers, and generally frustrate us to the point of madness. And can I get everyone to raise the roof for Flash ads? Awww yeah, baby! Adobe in the house! Mo’ crashes, mo’ crashes.
Seriously, advertising is still a scourge of the internet. Usability mogul Jakob Nielsen discovered a long time ago that people pay little, to no attention, to advertising in web pages. You actually have to trick them to look, by making the ads appear to be “a part” of the website. Still companies and budding entrepreneurs pack their website full of banner ads. But is their overzealousness myopic and ultimately fuelled by a “sledgehammer to crack a nut” mentality? I did some digging into the effects adverts have on general load times, performance, and subjective feel.
Anubis: A Mexican Black Kingsnake
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
What to Look for in a (Web) Designer: Uncovering the Charlatans
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
Every 3rd rate designer, charlatan, scam artist, and wannabe is going to tote about W3C valid code, high usability, and SEO, yet few will probably deliver on their claims. After all, most of their clients probably won’t have any clue they’re getting everything they paid for. These smarmy “designers” will probably flaunt their online portfolio, chalk full of cherry picked work that exemplifies their phenomenal skills and abilities—some may be truly inspirational. In fact, a well put together site from these unscrupulous individuals may look downright appealing, almost too good to pass up. But is it all smoke and mirrors? Are they truly legit artists that are going to provide bang for your buck?
Find out with a little bit of investigating. Just 15 minutes of digging can save you loads of cash, time, and ultimately your sanity.
reCaptcha Hell: The Nuisance of Being Human
The following article was witten and published by William Szilveszter.
reCAPTCHA is a free service that adds a magnanimous twist to the whole, “prove to me you’re human” paradigm of anti-spam technology. It was a novel idea back in the day, I’m sure, almost taking a page from the Turing Test. I can remember the first time I used one. I thought it was a great idea—very neat way of identifying humans from spambots. Then, new ones came out. More advanced ones. Some more difficult to use than others. Some downright annoying. Some did a better job than others. And for a time, things were good.
I have alway wondered whether some of the more difficult ones were made that way because spammers figured out ways to circumvent them, or if it was just overzealousness on the programmers part—trying to make an anti-spam system that could never be beat. In any case, it looks like reCAPTCHA has really gone into overdrive.
