Banners The banner advertisement has been around almost as long as the Web, a direct transplant from print media. In Web advertising, banners come in several different forms. Its first incarnation was the static banner, a simple static image on a page. Since then, animated banners, HTML banners, and interactive banners have started to come into common use. Even though each layer of feature functionality, such as interactivity, makes the banner more compelling, there are reasons why many banner types have still not become widely used. Static banners Animated banners HTML banners Interactive banners
Return to top of Page Static Banners
	A static banner is a fixed advertisement for a product or company. Clicking on the banner often takes you to the advertiser's website, although this is not always the case. Due to the limitation that Web hosts often put on the content of their pages, it is a good idea to maintain a library of static and animated banner ads in addition to others that you may develop. Many Web sites only allow GIF and JPEG images, with no image map support.
	FORMATS GIF, JPEG PROS File size, universal exceptance; .GIF used for line art, JPEG for photographic images. CONS Limited space for messages; can be boring; no sound; no user interaction.
Return to top of Page Animated Banners
	An animated banner contains animation related to a product or service. The sequence may loop, and can contain more complicated messages than a static advertisement. Click usually takes you to the advertiser's website.
	FORMATS Animated GIF, Flash, Shockwave, Java PROS Animated GIFs, Java supported in all browsers. Flash, Shockwave, and Java can include audio. Entertaining, informative, humorous. CONS Not interactive; repetitive looped sequence can become annoying; Shockwave & Flash require a plugin.
Return to top of Page HTML Banners
	An HTML banner contains a combination of text and images laid out in a banner-like format in a Web page. It often contains form elements, such as text boxes or radio buttons. While this does not require any special technologies, it is one of the more difficult to have hosted on a Web page, due to its formatting complexity. As more and more sites are database-generated, it becomes difficult to manicure HTML documents to the design of the advertiser. It is more likely that such techniques will be employed by the Web site host for its own purposes. Enter email to Win!
	FORMATS HTML, GIF, JPEG, Animated GIF, others PROS HTML is supported in all browsers. Small file size. Table colors and font colors are supported in most browsers, which can help designers. Send/submit function enables feedback loop. CONS Difficult to find a Web site that will agree to hosting nested tables. Requires testing and attention by Web page designers.
Return to top of Page Interactive Banners
	An interactive banner ad is a banner that dynamically responds to user actions. Rollovers or clicks can change the content of the banner without branching to the website it is associated with. More creative interactive banners can provide enough information and entertainment value to provoke Web site visitors to buy the product that is being advertised while their attention has been captured. An example of each principal type appears below. JavaScript - for use with standard image files Plug-ins - Shockwave for Director - for added interactivity and animation Plug-ins - Flash - small files with interactivity and animation Java - for cross-browser, cross-platform solutions
	JavaScript Banners JavaScript works well with GIF or JPEG file formats to provide simple interactive banners. The biggest drawback to this approach is that the image object is not supported in Navigator 2.0 or Internet Explorer 3.0. Advertisers should make sure that the JavaScript takes this into consideration and does not break when viewed by other browsers. Rollover - Low Resolution to High Resolution Images Rollover - Static to Animated Image PROS JavaScript and Image manipulation put the least strain on the client. All browsers that recognize the image object (Navigator 3 and later, IE4) support this method. No file format issues to deal with. CONS Many Web sites do not allow inclusion of custom JavaScripts. For browsers that do not support the interactive banner, an acceptable derivative is often designed at the same time.
	Plug-ins - Shockwave Interactive Banners Two of the most important plugins for advertising purposes are made by Macromedia. Shockwave for Director is the most programmable, although at the cost of larger file sizes. This banner, using Shockwave for Director, adds sound and animation to the advertisement. Games, infotainment content, purchase options, and more can be delivered using this format. An issue posed by plugins is that visitors need for to download software to view the ads. Of all plugins, Shockwave for Director has the largest installed base, with an estimated target population of ten million users. Examples: Shockwave Interactive Banners PROS Shockwave provides sophisticated programming. Code is compiled, unlike JavaScript, thus protecting the programming investment. Cross-browser and cross-platform support (Windows and Macintosh varieties). CONS Early versions of Shockwave that had memory bugs earned the plugin a bad reputation among some developers and advertisers. Issues, such as high memory requirements (especially the Navigator version) and need for plugin download, are still faced by Shockwave today.
	Plug-ins - Flash Banners Flash is rapidly catching Shockwave in popularity. The small size of the plugin, along with the small size of documents created with Flash, have resulted in its embrace by Web surfers and advertisers alike. The example here adds sound and animation to the banner. Flash can also be used for static or animated banner ads, as can Shockwave and Java. Examples: Flash Interactive Banners PROS Flash uses vector-based graphics, which take up an extremely small size, in both static and animated forms. Version 2.0 includes sound and JavaScript integration. CONS As with Shockwave for Director, Flash requires a plugin. Its installed base is not as large as Shockwave. Present users will have to download a new plugin as it is launched this summer to support Flash 2 files.
Interactive Banners	Java Interactive Banners The Java Interactive Banner is much like the Shockwave banner, with some advantages and disadvantages. On the positive, it is supported without need for plugin download, in both Netscape and Microsoft browsers. It is truly cross-platform, running on several Unix-based machines, as well as Macintosh and Windows. On the downside, it is not a friendly programming environment for graphics developers. It is in most instances slower than competing technologies. You can develop games, animation, and purchase-oriented applets with its powerful programming language. Examples: Java Interactive Banners PROS Java is supported in the majority of browsers and operating systems. It offers complex programming, animation, video, and audio support. CONS The cost of support for all browsers and platforms is its slow graphics processings. The majority of Java developers are programmers, not designers, which can result in technically interesting, but esthetically challenged applets.
Related forms of Web advertising include : interstitials, interactive product placement, and webfomercials.

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