There is an evil scourge enveloping the web. Its name is IntelliTXT. You may not know it by that name, but I’m sure you’ve seen it. Ever been to a site where some of the words are double underlined? That’s InteiliTXT. Here’s an example:

Note the word “gaming”. This image was taken from a website about video games, but even so, the word “gaming” seems so general that no reasonable person would expect to see it linked. As you can see, when hovered over, an ad for a computer pops up (some of these even have embedded video).

IntelliTXT’s website says they “enable every word to be an opportunity to engage with customers.” Why, oh WHY, is making every stinking word an “opportunity to engage” someone a good idea? Every word (or even every 100th word) shouldn’t be an opportunity to do anything other than read them. IntelliTXT creates a rotten experience by popping up stupid little windows even if you just happen to pass your cursor over them and distracts from the act of absorbing content by emphasizing some words over others in a way not controlled or even desired by the visitor or the content creator. It’s an unholy alliance of hyperlinks and Google’s AdSense and somehow happens to build on only the negative aspects of both.