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Frogster

Screenshot of Frogster, a gaming website featuring various sections and game listings. A banner at the top highlights "Zombie Hunter" and "ruffle," alongside a "Join Now" button. Side sections list new, featured, and random games with small thumbnails for each.

Going For It

Drawing on the success of ourprevious website, we decided to go even further. In 2008 we started making Frogster, a social gaming network that had search functionalities to finance the website.

Again, this was a pure PHP and Javascript website that we made from the ground up. This time, there was more emphasis on design. It looked fantastic in it’s day – and it would not look overly out of place today, 15 years later.

The Advent Of Social Media

Social media was just getting going, and it was obvious it was the way forward. We implemented our first non-Google API’s at this point. It was a leaderboard system from a company called Mochi Media that allowed players to compete against each other with online Flash games.

Making websites was also getting easier. Although WordPress was released in 2003, it was not until 2010 that WordPress version 3 was released, and this was the edition that started to turn it into a true content management system (CMS).

In other words, WordPress was not WordPress at the time of making Frogster. This was another site that was made from a ‘blank sheet of paper’.

Developing Partnerships

I had hit the big time with my previous website, and for this one We managed to engineer advertising partnerships with both Google and Yahoo. We were given specific permission to display their search ads on the website by both companies, as a full search partner.

This was a rare privilege. These types of contract were only reserved for large companies, but it was just still just us on our laptops making websites…..we were learning the true art of business online.

These ad partnerships came with new responsibilities.

Giving value to advertisers is imperative if you want your business to succeed online. We had gathered enough information to know that people earning from ad clicks was always a bad move – just like it is today when advertising yourself.

Top tip – never use search partners when using Google Ads!

Solutions

A screenshot of the Frogster gaming website homepage. The left side features a navigation menu, arcade stats, and an advertisement. The main section displays a grid of various game thumbnails with their titles, including action and puzzle games. Frogster's header includes a search bar.

The Birth Of Interconnected Websites

This was a time when connection was key. Websites were migrating from XML based connections to Javascript API’s. One of the main reasons for this allowed more control to be given to the creators of the originating code.

Online advertising drove the need for this kind of migration. It meant click fraud procedures could be controlled by the source, rather than rely on developers implementing code themselves. It was a game changer, and JS based coding is the norm these days with website connections.

Flexibility Was Arriving

By 2008, most people had a broadband internet connection. It was this technological advancement that allowed websites to become much more advanced. For the first time, design could be done as it was meant to be done – with creative flair coming to the forefront.

This advancement gave birth to websites such as Frogster, and these advancements have paved the way to for the internet as it is today.

Project Information

  • Client: Frogster
  • Category: Historic PHP Website
  • Start Date: 1st May 2008
  • End Date: 1st September 2011
  • Tag: Web Design, PHP, Custom Coding
  • Budget: £40,000.00 GBP
  • Website URL: https://frogster.com - (no longer online)

Other Historic PHP Websites

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