We had come across this collection of micro-bar banner advertisements from the 1990s and early 2000s a few years ago, and so were pleased—via Quantum of Sollazo—to discover the curation of button ads was a ongoing project of one anonymous individual and a reminder of the aesthetic that resonates somehow, certainly seeming less intrusive, distracting, badly juxtaposed and a bit more captivating than the commercial ecosystem we are served nowadays. There are two theories regarding the format, unobtrusive yet large enough to catch the eye—the first being that GeoCities, the then largest provider of personal hosting required users to have a link back somewhere on the page to the host or that Netscape sought a way to scale assets, informed by credit card logos, for publishers and promoters easily adjusted to fill blank space—either way many users started making buttons of their own to create a directory. Moreover, these banners, in deference to their chosen native platforms and browsers were sometimes labeled “best viewed in…” with recommended plugins to enhance the website’s experience, gradually displaced by pop-ups, badges and social media icons for sharing or subscribing.
synchronoptica
one year ago: 1983’s Thriller (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus the problem with loving the unborn
seven years ago: the art of craft, combatting food waste plus the spatial frequency effect
eight years ago: sign language lessons, civil forfeiture, passports of defunct countries plus flag emoji
nine years ago: the educational system of the Caliphate plus a spy-proof underseas cable from Brazil to Europe
ten years ago: more links to enjoy, DeepMind plus some otherworldly plants