The History and Evolution of Pop-up Advertisements in Web Browsers
By
coldpie
If you only eat one bagel today, this is the bagel.
Summary
The article discusses the history of pop-up advertisements in web browsers, tracing their origins from a poorly-considered browser feature that allowed websites to open new windows. It explains how this feature was quickly abused for advertising, leading to the development of pop-up blockers. The content explores the evolution of pop-up blocking technology and how modern browsers have largely solved this problem, though some pop-ups still exist in different forms.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledIf you were an Internet user for a few years on either side of the turn of the millennium, you will remember pop-up advertisements.
A poorly-considered web browser feature allowed website authors to open new browser windows on your computer containing some other website.
This was quickly abused to show ads to users. You'd visit a website and receive an ad that covered up the contents you were there to view until you closed the ad.
As the ad technology developed, pop-up blockers became standard features in web browsers.
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