Zombo.com
 | |
Type of site | Flash animation |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | www.15footstick.com |
| URL | www.zombo.com |
Zombo.com is a single-serving site that was created in 1999 when Flash animation was a new technology. The site parodies Flash introductory web pages that play while the rest of a site's content loads. Zombo took the concept to a humorous extreme, consisting of one long introductory page that never leads to any content.[2]
The website has remained largely unchanged since it was created.[2]
Content
Zombo.com consists of a "blank" page, a colorful title, and a Flash animation of seven colorful pulsating discs, making it appear as though they are rotating. An audio clip, in which a man welcomes the visitor to "Zombocom", loops indefinitely.
After some time, the option to sign up for a "newZletter" appears.[3] This is a continuation of the joke as it is actually a short link to http://www.zombo.com/join1.htm, which tells the reader that this particular option is not available yet. This message is conveyed as a humorously written thank you in the same register form of "newZletter," stating "ThankZ for your patience." A few seconds after the sign up link appears, the loop resumes.
The HTML markup of the website also contains the comment "Please Visit http://www.15footstick.com our other website. ThankZ" which leads to an old parody website.
Popularity
Video game producer Bill Roper[4] and artist Dave Rowntree have each listed Zombo as their favorite website; Rowntree explains, "I think [zombo.com] paraphrases the net. Promises you the earth but delivers a bit of animation with a scratchy soundtrack!"[5] Web animator Joel Veitch chose Zombo.com as the least useful website, since "it doesn't do anything except tell you how wonderful it is."[6] Mark Sullivan of PC World listed Zombo among the Internet's ten most useless websites, concluding, "Well, in fact, nothing happens at zombo.com."[7] Samela Harris of The Advertiser calls Zombo.com "the most welcoming website on the Internet",[8] and Daryl Lim of Digital Life calls Zombo.com "the ultimate time-waster".[9] A listing in The Australian writes, "Zombo.com has just one joke, but it's a good one."[10]
In 2004, "Conservitives.com" owner Paul Walters set his site to redirect to Zombo.com, causing some to believe political hacktivists had attacked a political party.[11]
On 4 September 2013, Matthew Inman, creator of The Oatmeal webcomic, listed Zombo.com as his favorite website in an interview with Runner's World. [12]
References
- ^ "Zombo.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2014-04-01.
- ^ a b Green, Tom; Dias, Tiago (2010), Foundation Flash CS5 for Designers, Apress, p. 758, ISBN 978-1-4302-2994-0
- ^ http://www.zombo.com/join1.htm
- ^ Mackintosh, Hamish (22 August 2002), "WORKING IT OUT - WAR GAMES", The Guardian, p. 4, Factiva grdn000020020821dy8m001nj, retrieved 26 July 2011
- ^ Mackintosh, Hamish (5 April 2001), "INTERVIEW - Dave Rowntree", The Guardian, p. 4, Factiva grdn000020010712dx4500kap, retrieved 26 July 2011
- ^ Veitch, Joel (20 January 2003), "My New Media", The Guardian, p. 51, Factiva grdn000020030121dz1k000ce, retrieved 26 July 2011
- ^ Sullivan, Mark (2 October 2008), "The Bottom 10: The Web's Most Useless Sites", PC World, retrieved 25 July 2011
- ^ Harris, Samela (20 October 2004), "Internut", The Advertiser, p. L14, Factiva ADVTSR0020041019e0ak0009d
- ^ Lim, Daryl (13 February 2007), "Nothing to do? Check out these five weird websites", Digital Life, Factiva COMPTI0020070212e32d0000d
- ^ Staff (22 April 2003), "Surf IT", The Australian, Factiva austln0020030421dz4m000ms
- ^ Auty, Caroline (2004), "Political hacktivism: tool of the underdog or scourge of cyberspace?", Aslib Proceedings, 56 (4): 212–221, doi:10.1108/00012530410549240
- ^ http://www.runnersworld.com/fun/an-interview-with-the-oatmeal
External links
- http://zombo.com/
- http://html5zombo.com HTML5 variation of Zombocom