sugarenia.com

Packing up sunglasses, tan lotion, swimming suits and the most summer-y and blogger-y of moods to go off to the official greek blogging island, Ios, for GBC08.

I’ll probably keep you posted with tweets every now and then, but don’t rely too much on me!

See you again on Monday with lots of pics and a good sunburntan.

gbc08, ios, greekbloggercamp

Now here’s a nifty idea to make sure your users have read well (and understood) your terms of use. Test them!

Newly arrived AudioJungle.net actually tests the users’ knowledge of its TOU upon hitting (hastily, I must say) ‘Agree‘, before starting to upload their own music files.

For a music sharing site that’s bound to face some copyright issues sooner or later, it’s a nice addition, even if kinda annoying.

audiojungle, terms of use, quiz

I’ve been using the Web since 1998, while I started peering at it from the professional podium almost 3 years ago. I’ve never ever clicked on any advertising banners, unless by chance or misfortune or because they were so damn annoying I had to shut them down.

I’ve found myself clicking - again and again - on The DECK advertisements, mainly through Twitterrific (which now uses ad placement for financial support - a noble cause).

Why? Because they’re relevant. They’re focused on me. They concern products I already use or plan to check out. They’re sometimes funny and quirky (remember that clever Putin one?).

Most of all, they’re subtle. No music playing loud, no videos moving, no striking colours or silly “click on me” tricks. Just a logo, two or three words and that’s it. I consider it the triumph of awesome copywriting and advertising subtlety.

Granted, they’re too “quiet” or “invisible” or whatever, but who needs more shouting in such a noisy place as the Web?

So that’s why The DECK works for me, as a consumer. It actually helps me find cool stuff, instead of just getting in the way between me and the content.

Congrats!

P.S. Wow, two advertising posts in 3 days, I must be on fire or something.

advertising, banners, the deck, twitterrific

The people behind the latest Cosmote banner campaign must be so, so proud. They managed to conceive the worst ad banner campaign ever invented. Yeah, even worse than the dancing baby one. Yay for them.

Notice the whiteness while browsing several mainstream greek sites? Think your computer is slow, your connection is slow, or your brain is slow? Look no further, it’s the Cosmote banner.

It hides (?!) the content of the page behind it, to make it look like your Internet is very, very slow. It advertises high-speed Internet cards, so it asks, oh so cleverly: Slow connections? Long loading times? Try Cosmote.

Oh. My. Friggin. God.

I can’t even begin to describe how many usability (not to mention federal and international and transgalaxian) laws it just stomps on. It friggin’ HIDES (forgive my caps) the content of a perfectly running and functional page, forcing you to think that your connection is slow, so hey, you need Cosmote.

We’re talking nonsense here. Whoever is behind it (I don’t know who, I don’t care if I know them) must be truly, madly, deeply ashamed. I can understand the ignorance of the people that approved it, but I cannot possibly see how a web advertiser in his right mind would ever propose something like that.

It’s the worst banner ever invented.

Oh wait…

No.

It’s definitely the worst banner ever invented.

cosmote, banner, sucks

Let’s face it: Apple.com is full of awesome design tidbits, here and there. It’s always a place where new web design ideas rise, leading to instant photo-copying all around the web.

When I was browsing the new “Get a Mac” ads tonight (check the Pep Rally by the way, I thought it was hilarious), I found out that a simple but clever way is used to denote “You are here”:

No extra images, borders around the previews, no strings, no nothing. They just make the preview look like a pressed button. I think it’s nifty. Do you?

apple, get a mac, video