Instead of pop-up windows or regular banner ads, I propose translucent ads (like watermarks) on webpages. Ideally, they would be transparent enough to allow you to read a web page w/o being too distracted, but I'm sure this idea could be made much more annoying (eg. blinking tags). The advantage, though, is that you can have more screen real estate when banner ads aren't occupying 50% of your browser window....
-- mhh5, May 30 2002

see also: translucent email notifications http://www.halfbake.../Translucent_20biff
translucent email notification [mhh5, May 30 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Worst ideas http://www.halfbake...:n=worst:i=:t=worst
For mhh5 and others, this is easy to do with views. benfrost and GeorgeTheRobin seem to be the stars of the show. [pottedstu, Jun 02 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

The latest really annoying thing seems to be to have animated ads which move across the webpage you're trying to view, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. I think it's done with ActiveX (similar to the way you get pop-up menus on webpages). I can't find an example, but if you visit enough cool and happening web sites I'm sure you'll find some.
-- pottedstu, May 30 2002


That's fine; soccer seems to be infecting everything else at the moment. Even Time had a multi-page feature last week. I had hoped to be safe in a USian magazine.
-- angel, May 30 2002


For someone who's been around since late 2K, you sure keep a low profile [mhh5]. Great idea, but I had to fishbone it.
-- phoenix, May 30 2002


Sorry, but you said it yourself in the title. Nobody likes ads. I'm so happy this site is not infested with annoying ads.

Just today I saw a Crank Yankers ad that looked like interactive animation sans frame window when I visited Yahoo!'s TV listings page. The ad instructed me to answer the ringing phone in the middle of my screen - HA! I am in the habit of immediately closing any popup ad that should appear on my screen. Die, ads, die!!!
-- XSarenkaX, May 31 2002


pottedstu: also possible with DHTML/JavaScript/layers, I think. At any rate, I get those ads sometimes and my machine doesn't do ActiveX.

mhh5: This is (almost?) bakeable using layers now. I don't know if you can get the browser to allow you to click on links and stuff that are under the translucent ad layer.
-- wiml, May 31 2002


Has geocities stopped using the little moving g in the bottom corner of their inmates pages? I found it incredibly annoying because it kept moving, and because whatever crapplet they used to inflict it on me would often crash the browser.

In any case, baked.
-- StarChaser, Jun 01 2002


I guess I knew this idea would be fishboned.... :P

No marketing people out there?

Is there a way to see the "worst" halfbaked ideas? :)
-- mhh5, Jun 02 2002


//No marketing people out there?// - to market your idea you should have called it "Less Annoying....."
-- po, Jun 02 2002


mhh5: Yes, you can use the sorting facility in the "views" to order ideas by different factors (see link for an example). However, I think the truly worst ideas will have been deleted, and therefore won't show up. So don't take it as a challenge, or you'll just be [m-f-d]ed.
-- pottedstu, Jun 02 2002


A bit off topic (but that doesn't seem to bother people here at the Half Bakery. :) Do yall use the automatic pop-up ad killer available for free at www.panicware.com? It works great.

It is a bit aggressive -- sometimes it suppresses legit new browser windows -- but you can override it by holding down control as you click. Well worth it.
-- white, Aug 03 2002


It would be better to move this idea to public:evil, wouldn't it?
-- Saruman, Oct 24 2002


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR RRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGG GGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! [whitespace added by -R-Us.] I would rip out the power cable from my computer and chew off my own arms in frustration! --------------------------
-- Mistress Bling, Nov 07 2003


The title says it all. -.
-- Protein, Nov 08 2003


{mhh5}- if this is ever enacted, i'll have you eaten by rotweillers.
-- whatastrangeperson, Apr 28 2004


Go to excite.com and you'll see these constantly. (Be sure to turn your cookies off. Excite will fill your computer with scumware)
-- Klaatu, Apr 29 2004



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