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February 12, 2007
Voluntary web bugs
Voluntary web bugs: Jeremy Zawodny joins the "JavaScript Badges and Widgets Considered Harmful" questioning. If your webpage has a graphic from another site (ad banner, tipjar, recommendation link, etc) then that third-party site can set a cookie on your visitors who use their default browser settings. If you host third-party text, then I believe the request usually has access to your visitors internet protocol address. If you host a SWF from someone else, then check for the "allowScriptAccess=never" line in OBJECT & EMBED to make sure their SWF can't ask your JavaScript things. In all cases, the sheer number of HTTP requests on popular weblogs today is the main cause of slowdown I see, when not using a highspeed connection. The original objections to hosting third-party content on your webpage were outlined by Richard M. Smith, when advertisers first started tying webpages together with their advertising servers.
Posted by JohnDowdell at February 12, 2007 01:06 PM
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Comments
So ah, when is Adobe going to fix their site system? Isn't everyone who works with you embarrassed by the horrible response times on the company sites? Does every page actually need 60k of useless garbage over and over again for every page? Maybe it's time to slap the marketing department on the side of the head and alert them to the damage all this worthless tracking is doing to the company image... better yet, make them travel across 30 links anywhere in YOUR site system - every day - till they 'get it'.
[jd sez: Have you checked the web team's info on this, or provided location, traceroute, page and time on the widget on each webpage?]
Posted by: Dave_Matthews at February 13, 2007 08:49 AM
Thank you JD! You are the best corporate spokesperson ever. Just knowing the problem is being addressed makes it all O.K. now... :)
Posted by: Dave_Matthews at February 13, 2007 01:40 PM