Banner Ads 1616 Responses

Last post: 2 months, 3 weeks ago | Thread started: Sep 11, 08, 11:21 a.m.

RespondNew TopicDisable Images

• CincodeMayo

  First time working with banner ads. I made a 3 frame leader ad yesterday and was able to get it down to 40K. Now I'm trying to make a skyscraper ad 4 frames, and it's sitting at 148K. Any tricks for reducing size without losing much quality? I'm working in CS3...HELP! Thanks.

  Sep 11, 08, 11:21 a.m. – Permalink

• ukit

  What's in your file? Make sure you optimize all bitmap images in Photoshop first.

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:22 a.m. – Permalink

• CALLES

  

  • Dude, that's like 25 frames. Way above my head.– CincodeMayo

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:22 a.m. – Permalink

• CincodeMayo

  The 4 frames I'm working with are gifs. Should I make them bitmap and then save to web as a gif?

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:23 a.m. – Permalink

• lvl_13

  save them as pngs (using save for web). flash handles pngs the best when dealing with compression.

  also if they move make sure you check the allow smoothing box in flash in the image setting for each png

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:25 a.m. – Permalink

• ukit

  Another thing you can do is go to Publish Settings, then click Flash, then check Generate Size Report. It will create a text file when you output the file that breaks down the bytes and where they are coming from.

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:26 a.m. – Permalink

• Nairn

  3 frames = 40k? Ouch.

  Remember - main thing with gifs is to keep the frames as consistent as possible - change as little as you can between them, as that's where the data goes, so you should design with that in mind. Don't do fades, don't employ too much detail, be wary of gradients - don't do anything too fancy - try not to 'change too much'.

  Banner ads are the single best excuse for Flash. I did one recently that weighed in at 21kb and featured lots of (subtle) animation - I haven't really been into banner-making since the turn of the millennium, and to see what could be achieved really made me smile.

  • Yeah...it's for the LA Times. 40K max. Actually, I think they prefer 30K but we can get away with 40.– CincodeMayo1/2

    You're luck - back in my day we had to aim for around 16kb!– Nairn2/2

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:26 a.m. – Permalink

• CincodeMayo

  Um, am I a sinner for not using Flash? I'm doing these just in CS3, using the Animation. I saved the first 3 frame Leader as GIF 64 Dithered and was able to get it from 60K to 40K which is where I need to be. Now with this 4 frame one, it also has to be 40K. No crazy effects, just a simple 4 frame skyscraper that changes every 3.5 seconds.

  • Oh...nevermind...I assumed it was Flash:)– ukit1/2

    i used to do those for subway all the time. try not to use detailed images like sandwiches lol– epete222/2

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:29 a.m. – Permalink

• Nairn

  You're no 'sinner' - banner deployment's not really your remit (I assume) so if you've been asked to do gif banners, then gif banners are what you should do.

  It doesn't come down to much more than 'not changing too much', not 'having too much detail' and 'not having too many colours'.

  Everything else is just fiddling.

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:31 a.m. – Permalink

• slinky

  show what you're working with...

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:33 a.m. – Permalink

• CincodeMayo

  Yeah, just working in CS3, with gifs. I have 4 gifs that I'm animating, each are 40K, 160 x 600 gifs, when I place them in the animation. Anyway suggestions for making the sizes smaller before I animate them without losing much quality?

  • It really depends on 'what' is in them - like slinky suggests, it's hard to know without seeing.– Nairn

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:34 a.m. – Permalink

• Jnr_Madison

  40k for 3 frames..fuck. If I wasn't busy I'd get you to send it to me.

  • show us.– Jnr_Madison

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:36 a.m. – Permalink

• Nairn

  Also - and please correct me if I'm talking bullshit - do gifs not compress 'horizontally'? So, if you have a horizontal line of 160 white pixels, the gif compression will work it's magic, whereas if it's a vertical line of 160 pixels it won't do anything?

  • talkin bullshit– cannonball1/4

    Care to show me why? This is what I remember from the bad old days.– Nairn2/4

    Not bullshit, GIF images with large blocks of solid color and horizontal patterns compress better than images with color gradations, soft shadows, and vertical patterns.– Jnr_Madison3/4

    images with color gradations, soft shadows, and vertical patterns.– Jnr_Madison4/4

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:42 a.m. – Permalink

• Nairn

  K, I might have the direction wrong - perhaps it 'compresses vertically'.

  If I make a 100x100 2 colour gif, made up of alternating black and white pixel lines, it compresses as 214 bytes when the lines are vertical and 286 lines when they are horizontal, so there's obviously something in what I say (even if I did get it the wrong way around).

  • Perhaps just ignore this, as it's not really helping you, 5th of May - I was just curious!– Nairn

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:51 a.m. – Permalink

• CincodeMayo

  I don't have them online to show yet but I could email...tried saving for web as GIF 32 dithered, but only got it to reduce from 140K to 116K. Need to be at 40K! Ugh.

  • If you like, drop me an email. I seem to be making every effort to avoid my own work today anyway.– Nairn1/2

    Sweet...I just might. Trying a few more things on my end, but if not I'll send on over! Thanks!– CincodeMayo2/2

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 11:55 a.m. – Permalink

• CincodeMayo

  So I'm getting pretty close folks...down to about 52K. Still tweaking and trying to keep quality. But I found a handy link in case you're in a bind. I'm sure it's not the ideal way to fix this, but it kinda works (minus a bit of quality loss...)

  http://www.gifworks.com/cgi-bin/…

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 1:12 p.m. – Permalink

• elpaso

  why do they have to be gifs?
  also have you checked the individual assets on your library and compressed them? as well as setting the compression on the publish settings?

  • its not a flash banner. i think his requirement was .gif– October

  

  You must be logged in to add a note. Login now or register for an account.

  Cancel

  Dog-earSep 11, 08, 5:12 p.m. – Permalink