Evangelists, Focus on Standard Ad Code!
Jens O. Meiert, January 7, 2007 / June 22, 2011.
This entry is filed under Web Development.
Popular advert code I often use to see, and my eyes don’t stop bleeding:
<IFRAME SRC="http://ad.de.doubleclick.net/adi/SNIP/B1713703;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp]?" WIDTH=728 HEIGHT=90 MARGINWIDTH=0 MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no BORDERCOLOR='#000000'>
<SCRIPT language='JavaScript1.1' SRC="http://ad.de.doubleclick.net/adj/SNIP/B1713703;abr=!ie;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp]?">
</SCRIPT>
<NOSCRIPT>
<A HREF="http://ad.de.doubleclick.net/jump/SNIP/B1713703;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp]?">
<IMG SRC="http://ad.de.doubleclick.net/ad/SNIP/B1713703;abr=!ie4;abr=!ie5;sz=728x90;ord=[timestamp]?" BORDER=0 WIDTH=728 HEIGHT=90 ALT="Click Here"></A>
</NOSCRIPT>
</IFRAME>This is yet an almost uncensored version (except the “SNIP” parts) of the original code we received from former partners. In fact, we had (and probably, my former colleagues still have) to rework each and every ad that came to us. Otherwise, it would have ruined any attempt to output at least valid code.
This horror show needs to stop. While I remember endless discussions to get companies and individuals to publish standards compliant websites, nobody seems to talk about this important aspect. Monetarized websites like to use the standard code they receive from large advertising partners like DoubleClick or Falk or whoever, and that code sucks. It is one of the brakes in the process to get larger sites aboard.
I don’t even mention Google here. Their code is bad almost all the time, though quite sophisticated when it comes to certain applications. Hopefully, Ian and Co. bring in some improvement; my former proposals to improve Google’s AdSense code fizzled out anyway …
However, I urge us members of either Web Standard Project or Webkrauts or any other standards oriented organization to focus on ad providers, too. Let’s probably start with the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
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Comments
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On January 10, 2007, 17:29 CET, Robert Wellock said:
It will be a tall order to say the least getting any of those companies to even consider creating something remotely clean. There are very few advertisement inclusion companies that seem to have anything even remotely resembling non-proprietary HTML.
It doesn’t score well on the accessibility side either anyway good luck with trying to “convert” them.
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On January 11, 2007, 22:33 CET, Jens Meiert said:
Robert, hope dies last … we need some dialog with ad providers.
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On January 14, 2007, 16:52 CET, David Storey said:
We have a problem in Opera, where flash ads served by doubleclick are sometimes displayed twice when plug-ins are not available (such as devices and phones) or switched off. I’m in the process of getting a DoubleClick contact, so I’ll bring this issue up with them as well. I can’t promise anything, but well try to get them to use more valid code.
David Storey
Chief Web Opener, Opera Software -
On January 14, 2007, 20:32 CET, Jens Meiert said:
David, that’s great news!
I’ll meanwhile try to get Falk and Co. aboard, unless there is additional support for this endeavour.
