Zombo.com

Zombo.com is a single-serving site created in 1999 that uses Flash animation. It was originally a faculty and student joke from the George Washington University Center for Professional Development. 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 leads to an invitation to sign up for a newsletter.[2]

Zombo.com
Type of site
Flash animation
Available inEnglish
URLwww.zombo.com
Alexa rank 204,193 (September 2018)[1]
LaunchedNovember, 28 1999
Current statusOnline

Content

Zombo.com consists of a "blank" page, a colorful title, and a Flash animation of seven colorful pulsating discs, making them appear as though they are rotating. The website also contains an audio clip, in which a man welcomes the visitor to "Zombocom".

After some time, the option to sign up for a "newZletter" appears. 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."

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.

Transcript

Welcome ... to ZomboCom.

This ... is ... ZomboCom. Welcome. This is ZomboCom; welcome ... to ZomboCom. You can do anything at ZomboCom. Anything at all. The only limit is yourself. Welcome ... to ZomboCom.

Welcome ... to ZomboCom. This is ... ZomboCom. Welcome ... to ZomboCom! This is ZomboCom, welcome! Yes ... This ... is ZomboCom.

This is ZomboCom! And welcome to you, who have come to ZomboCom. Anything ... is possible ... at ZomboCom. You can do ... anything at ZomboCom. The infinite is possible at ZomboCom. The unattainable is unknown at ZomboCom. Welcome to ZomboCom. This ... is ZomboCom.

Welcome to ZomboCom. Welcome. This ... is ... ZomboCom. Welcome ... to ZomboCom!

Welcome ... to ZomboCom.

Popularity

Video game producer Bill Roper[3] 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!"[4] 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."[5] Ian McClelland, currently Managing Director of Guardian Australia,[6] but at the time Senior Producer for Cartoon Network, also cited Zombo.com as the least useful site in the same column two years previously [7] "Utterly useless, absolutely brilliant". Mark Sullivan of PC World listed Zombo among the Internet's ten most useless websites, concluding, "Well, in fact, nothing happens at zombo.com."[8] Samela Harris of The Advertiser calls Zombo.com "the most welcoming website on the Internet",[9] and Daryl Lim of Digital Life calls Zombo.com "the ultimate time-waster".[10] A listing in The Australian writes, "Zombo.com has just one joke, but it's a good one."[11]

On 4 September 2013, Matthew Inman, creator of the webcomic The Oatmeal, listed Zombo.com as his favorite website in an interview with Runner's World.[12]

On 23 January 2020, Terry Cavanagh, programmer of VVVVVV and Super Hexagon, created a VR version of Zombo.com.[13]

References
  1. "Zombo.com Site Info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2016-11-09.
  2. Green, Tom; Dias, Tiago (2010), Foundation Flash CS5 for Designers, Apress, p. 758, ISBN 978-1-4302-2994-0
  3. Mackintosh, Hamish (22 August 2002), "WORKING IT OUT – WAR GAMES", The Guardian, p. 4, Factiva grdn000020020821dy8m001nj, retrieved 26 July 2011
  4. Mackintosh, Hamish (5 April 2001), "INTERVIEW – Dave Rowntree", The Guardian, p. 4, Factiva grdn000020010712dx4500kap, retrieved 26 July 2011
  5. Veitch, Joel (20 January 2003), "My New Media", The Guardian, p. 51, Factiva grdn000020030121dz1k000ce, retrieved 26 July 2011
  6. "Ian McClelland appointed Managing Director, Guardian Australia". Guardian News and Media Limited.
  7. Maclelland, Ian; Barton, Laura (October 21, 2001). "My new media". Guardian News and Media Limited.
  8. Sullivan, Mark (2 October 2008), "The Bottom 10: The Web's Most Useless Sites", PC World, retrieved 25 July 2011
  9. Harris, Samela (20 October 2004), "Internut", The Advertiser, p. L14, Factiva ADVTSR0020041019e0ak0009d
  10. Lim, Daryl (13 February 2007), "Nothing to do? Check out these five weird websites", Digital Life, Factiva COMPTI0020070212e32d0000d
  11. Staff (22 April 2003), "Surf IT", The Australian, Factiva austln0020030421dz4m000ms
  12. Remy, Mark (September 4, 2013). "An Interview With The Oatmeal". Rodale Incorporated.
  13. Cavanagh, Terry. "Zombocom VR". GitHub. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
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