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• Create a GIF banner advertisement in Flash that is 12K or smaller.
• Limit looping banner advertisements to three repetitions. Many websites adopt the standardized file size recom-
mendations as advertising specifications.
• Use the
command to pass data between an advertisement and a server, and do not use the
GET
For more information on GET and POST, see the getURL function in ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference.
Note: Provide control to the user. If you add sound to an advertisement, also add a mute button. If you create a trans-
parent Flash ad that hovers over a web page, provide a button to close the advertisement for its duration.
See also
"Optimizing graphics and animation" on page 486
Tracking advertisements
Several leading advertising networks now support standardized tracking methods in Flash SWF files. The following
guidelines describe the supported tracking methodology:
Create a button or movie clip button
dimensions, see the IAB website. For more information on creating a button in Flash, see "Create a button" on
page 220.
Add a script to the button
new browser window. The following code snippets are two examples of ActionScript 2.0 code you might add to
Frame 1 of the Timeline:
myButton_btn.onRelease = function(){
getURL(clickTAG, "_blank");
};
You might add the following code to Frame 1 of the Timeline:
myButton_btn.onRelease = function() {
if (clickTAG.substr(0, 5) == "http:") {
getURL(clickTAG);
}
};
The
function adds the variable passed in the
getURL()
launched to the specified location. The server hosting the ad can track clicks on the advertisement. For more infor-
mation on using the
getURL()
Assign clickTAG code for tracking
ad appears and when it is clicked.
The process is the standard way of creating an advertising campaign for a typical Flash advertisement. If you assign
the
function to the banner, you can use the following process to add tracking to the banner. The following
getURL()
example lets you append a variable to a URL string to pass data, which lets you set dynamic variables for each banner,
instead of creating a separate banner for each domain. You can use a single banner for the entire campaign, and any
server that is hosting the ad can track the clicks on the banner.
In the
and
object
embed
www.helpexamples.com is the ad network, and adobe.com is the company with an advertisement):
<EMBED src="your_ad.swf?clickTAG= http://helpexamples.com/tracking?http://www.adobe.com">
Use standardized dimensions outlined by the IAB. For a list of standardized
Executes when a user clicks the banner. You might use the
function, see ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference.
Tracks the advertisement and helps the network serving the ad to track where the
tags in your HTML, you would add code similar to the following example (where
and
tags, and then sends the browser that is
object
embed
FLASH CS3
User Guide
command.
POST
function to open a
getURL()
483
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