[...]The protests were successful, and the Ampelmännchen returned to pedestrian crossings. They can now also be seen in some western districts of Berlin.[4] Some western German cities such as Saarbrücken[14] and Heidelberg[15] have since adopted the design for some intersections.
It's kinda odd (to me, at least) to see an active blogpost in 2026. Everyone here seems to miss pre-html5 and css3 web but nobody seems to miss this era of the web, circa 2007-2010
For good reason. 90s web was full of independence and experimentation. Nobody really knew what was good or bad design and the Internet hadn’t been commercialised. So people just did stuff for fun.
The era you described was when corporate entities took ownership of the web with walled gardens like social networks and blogging platforms. Microsoft were stifling innovation in browser tech, and w3c were asleep at the wheel. So much of the web was built around Flash and other proprietary formats. It was basically the dark ages for web development.
Much as I dismiss many claims made about Apple inventing the smart phone, the iPhone was definitely a pivotal player in changing web technology to become what it is today (for better or for worse).
> It was basically the dark ages for web development.
Speak for yourself buddy, I had a blast both browsing and developing for the Flash era of the web back in those days and I was barely into highschool. Macromedia tooling made web dev so approachable to kids and youngsters, for games, animations.
I get you hate Flash and MS, but the web was still way more of a wild west back then than today. Nobody from the government or ISP was monitoring my online activity to check for IP infringement or CSAM, there was no ID age verification, Youtube and other websites allowed uploads of anything, there were no manufacturer closed walled gardens preventing me what I can install on my own hardware, you weren't getting your gaming account banned for saying a $GAMER_WORD in a death match, less AD-tracking everywhere, etc. etc.
Now there's more open standards for web-dev on paper, but instead of Flash and IE, we have the monopoly walled garden of Google, Apple, Meta, etc. over the web, plus the governmental eye of Sauron over our activity and identity, which is way more cancerous than what we had >20 years ago.
People thinking we're overall better off now than in the Flash era must be on some really good weed. If using Flash was the only downside, I'd gladly go back to the web of the early 2000s. Frost my tips and plug me into the Matrix.
You’re conflating a whole plethora of stuff there and, in doing so, missing the point entirely.
Firstly Flash development isn’t web development. I’m not commenting on whether it was fun nor accessible. I said it was required because web standards had been stagnated thanks to the glacial pace of changes to the standards by the w3c, and the browser monopoly introduced by Microsoft Internet Explorer.
This isn’t hating Flash nor MS. It’s just a fact.
And no, web development wasn’t that wild back then. Flash development was. People had given up doing anything wild in HTML. Whereas in the 90s people were experimenting with HTML. And in the era of HTML5 anything imaginable can be realised in HTML. But for the period you’re describing, people didn’t build websites. They built Flash sites that were served via HTTP. There is a difference.
Also ad tracking has nothing to do with web development. Yes I do agree the web is more hostile now as a user, but I specifically said “web development”.
As for the monopolies you described, those walled gardens were in place back in the era you described too. As was ad tracking. Your era had all of the enshittification of modern web but with none of the upsides of modern web development technologies.
That’s why it was the dark ages. Corporations owned the internet; every part of it. Yes it’s still bad now but at least we have a choice of user agents and well supported web standards. Which wasn’t the case in the era of Flash.
No Ampelmann???
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelmännchen
Even better: Emden, Germany.
https://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/otto-waalkes-enthuellt-ot...
https://www.wn.de/welt/kultur/hupf-otto-hupf-emden-ehrt-komi...
Also Elvis is still alive https://web.archive.org/web/20181216174500/https://www.br.de...
Or Karl Marx https://web.archive.org/web/20180506094945/https://www.swr.d...
And there are a bunch more in Germany.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelm%C3%A4nnchen#Darstellung...
That’s not current so likely not part of the scope of the authors project. But it was still an interesting read so thanks for sharing.
It is current. Source: I live in Berlin.
Oh cool. The wiki suggested it was completely lost from modern use after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The Wikipedia article states that
[...]The protests were successful, and the Ampelmännchen returned to pedestrian crossings. They can now also be seen in some western districts of Berlin.[4] Some western German cities such as Saarbrücken[14] and Heidelberg[15] have since adopted the design for some intersections.
Ohhh I must have glossed over that part. Thank you
and the Ampel-couples in Vienna https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelp%C3%A4rchen
Istanbul is doing a ska dance. Also looks like he's wearing a porkpie hat. Probably listening to The Specials.
Fun!
I always like to see one off designs, like this one in The Netherlands of Miffy (1) or Det in Mainz in Germany (2), or in Akureyri (3).
(1) https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/miffy-traffic-light-utre...
(2) https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/mainzelmaenchen-ampel-tr...
(3) https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/akureyri-heart-shaped-tr...
Chicago and Boston look like tired old men with bad posture.
Contrast that with the virile Beijing and Madrid.
I’m not sure why Saragossa is wearing a dress.
And Warsaw looks like he’s ready to fight somebody.
What about Bompel against smombies?
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodenampel
(short for Bodenampel, or "ground traffic light" to help "smartphone zombies" cross the street)
I just wish they also had gotten cool designs.
Not exactly a man, but Sofie[0] from Amersfoort is also interesting.
[0] https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofie_(verkeerslicht)
If people are into this kind of thing, I highly suggest reading about the DOT pictograms:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT_pictograms
Direct link to the project: https://walking-men.com/
Interestingly, Saragossa seems to be wearing a dress (jodhpurs? breeches?).
It's kinda odd (to me, at least) to see an active blogpost in 2026. Everyone here seems to miss pre-html5 and css3 web but nobody seems to miss this era of the web, circa 2007-2010
For good reason. 90s web was full of independence and experimentation. Nobody really knew what was good or bad design and the Internet hadn’t been commercialised. So people just did stuff for fun.
The era you described was when corporate entities took ownership of the web with walled gardens like social networks and blogging platforms. Microsoft were stifling innovation in browser tech, and w3c were asleep at the wheel. So much of the web was built around Flash and other proprietary formats. It was basically the dark ages for web development.
Much as I dismiss many claims made about Apple inventing the smart phone, the iPhone was definitely a pivotal player in changing web technology to become what it is today (for better or for worse).
> It was basically the dark ages for web development.
Speak for yourself buddy, I had a blast both browsing and developing for the Flash era of the web back in those days and I was barely into highschool. Macromedia tooling made web dev so approachable to kids and youngsters, for games, animations.
I get you hate Flash and MS, but the web was still way more of a wild west back then than today. Nobody from the government or ISP was monitoring my online activity to check for IP infringement or CSAM, there was no ID age verification, Youtube and other websites allowed uploads of anything, there were no manufacturer closed walled gardens preventing me what I can install on my own hardware, you weren't getting your gaming account banned for saying a $GAMER_WORD in a death match, less AD-tracking everywhere, etc. etc.
Now there's more open standards for web-dev on paper, but instead of Flash and IE, we have the monopoly walled garden of Google, Apple, Meta, etc. over the web, plus the governmental eye of Sauron over our activity and identity, which is way more cancerous than what we had >20 years ago.
People thinking we're overall better off now than in the Flash era must be on some really good weed. If using Flash was the only downside, I'd gladly go back to the web of the early 2000s. Frost my tips and plug me into the Matrix.
You’re conflating a whole plethora of stuff there and, in doing so, missing the point entirely.
Firstly Flash development isn’t web development. I’m not commenting on whether it was fun nor accessible. I said it was required because web standards had been stagnated thanks to the glacial pace of changes to the standards by the w3c, and the browser monopoly introduced by Microsoft Internet Explorer.
This isn’t hating Flash nor MS. It’s just a fact.
And no, web development wasn’t that wild back then. Flash development was. People had given up doing anything wild in HTML. Whereas in the 90s people were experimenting with HTML. And in the era of HTML5 anything imaginable can be realised in HTML. But for the period you’re describing, people didn’t build websites. They built Flash sites that were served via HTTP. There is a difference.
Also ad tracking has nothing to do with web development. Yes I do agree the web is more hostile now as a user, but I specifically said “web development”.
As for the monopolies you described, those walled gardens were in place back in the era you described too. As was ad tracking. Your era had all of the enshittification of modern web but with none of the upsides of modern web development technologies.
That’s why it was the dark ages. Corporations owned the internet; every part of it. Yes it’s still bad now but at least we have a choice of user agents and well supported web standards. Which wasn’t the case in the era of Flash.
What’s an active blogpost? Do you mean an active blog?
Yes. This one: https://bookofjoe2.blogspot.com/
Full disclosure: It's mine (daily since 2004)
I suspect tech has little to do with it: we all mostly miss being 20 years younger and not having gray hair.
This is exactly what I like to see on HN while I’m having my coffee.