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Happy birthday, Skip Intro

by Kate Rutter

In 1998, the Internet bubble was growing by leaps and bounds, foosball and Red Bull were the drugs of choice and Flash (looky here! things can move!) was the new girl in school.

Interactive marketing departments and agencies rode the wave and launched an endlessly creative and exhaustive set of irritating, pointless Flash site intros that showcased their brands, showed off their knowledge of the newest tools, and revealed their utter contempt for people who wanted easy, quick access to information. Remember folks…the 14.4k modem was still in play. Companies seemed to think it was okay to force-feed people animated marketing fluff as the cost of entry to a Web site.

The hack Skip Intro was the perfect commentary on Flash madness. Set to an oh-so-current musical score and using all the best of Flash’s moving and shaking features, Skip Intro danced itself into user experience fame by throwing back the curtain on the true perceptions of the Flash site intro.

A few years after it made the Internet meme rounds, Skip Intro disappeared. Now I’m happy to discover that it’s back online, thanks to creator Yacco Vijn cleaning out his digital attic.

It’s 10 years later, it still has the power to amaze and delight. View the madness at www.skipintros.com. You get double points if you saw this the first time around.

Happy birthday, Skip Intro. So glad you’re back.

3 Responses to “Happy birthday, Skip Intro”

  1. Vasco Duarte Says:

    You think the “skip intro” is gone? Check http://www.nokia.com and the regional sites! These guys are still in the 90’s. Only, they’ve removed the “skip intro” link… You just have to suffer through it… Clueless!

  2. Steve Portigal Says:

    That’s amazing! I never saw or heard of this so I’m glad for the retro revisit. Thanks!

  3. A Modern Fable :: Adam J. McIntyre discusses user experience, web development, web design, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript » Blog Archive » adaptive path » blog » Kate Rutter » Happy birthday, Skip Intro Says:

    [...] adaptive path » blog » Kate Rutter » Happy birthday, Skip Intro [...]

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