The way that different companies and websites use ads on their sites has changed a lot in the past 10 years. As online advertising becomes a large source of income for many organizations, we experiment with all of the technologies available to us in order to maximize ad revenue.

Some ads fit seamlessly on the page, and blend in to the point that a visitor misses them completely. Others stand out like a sore thumb and change the visitor experience completely. One version of online advertising that has all but gone the way of the dodo is what we know lovingly as the Popup.

Here is a great example of what not to do with ads:

Yes, I was visiting a lyrics website. And yes, I should probably expect to be annoyed when visiting a lyrics website. Call me on optimist for hoping that even the sleaziest of web properties follows some form of visitor decency.

Not only was the ad blocking the entire site, the close button in the top right didn’t work, the mute button to silence the ad didn’t work, and even after the ad was finished playing the popup remained, basically making viewing the page that I was trying to view impossible.

Let’s all learn from this, and hopefully, some day, move past it.