Banner & Buttons Rules

[Rachel Woodlock]

G'day

Just off the bat: are there any 'rules' about banner and button graphics (apart from it seems to be more and more standard to have 468x60 banners)?[nbsp][nbsp]

Specifically I am thinking of whether or not you *have* to have rectangle edges.[nbsp][nbsp]Am I breaking any rules by having banners that 'appear' to have rough edges?

Rachel

[Deb]

Not breaking the rules at all, just being innovative and innovative is a good thing!

I love it on the rare occasion that I see oval and broken banners :)[nbsp][nbsp]I saw one not long ago that used the space they had on a single banner to make it appear as if there were three buttons for three different things in the area rather than a single banner...

Go for it!

Deb
[nbsp]- Different is Good!

[Dan Kaplan]

I agree with Deb.[nbsp][nbsp]Creativity should be the only limiting factor.[nbsp][nbsp]Well, one other...[nbsp][nbsp]size.[nbsp][nbsp]Nicer edges usually mean larger file size.[nbsp][nbsp]If I'm going to put a banner on my site (I don't do banner exchanges), I'll almost always copy it to the server and optimize it -- usually 50% easily (you'd think professional banner designers would understand the concept of graphics optimization; I'm by no means in the category and I've got a pretty good grasp on it ;)[nbsp][nbsp]) -- taking a slight loss of quality over a "needless" 5k any day.

Dcompress

[Rachel Woodlock]

Thanks for that Deb & Dan :)

I agree what you mean about the balance between quality and file size.[nbsp][nbsp]About hmmm four or five websites ago I got royally ticked off for having a *huge* page because of graphics and ever since then lowering graphic sizes has haunted me in my sleep.

One neat trick I saw on Oprah's AOL site (although you prolly all know this already - but for those who don't) is that it's amazing what you can get away with few-colour gifs.[nbsp][nbsp]She has a small 'photo' of her which normally I would have saved as a jpg struggling with quality loss, but saved as a 122 colour gif it looks 'arty'.[nbsp][nbsp](I reckon I could get it down further even).

Oh well just rambling.
Rachel

[wolfstalks]

Two great methods for image reduction are:
http://www.netmechanic.com/cobrands/zdnet/gifbot/
you can modify jpg and gif's including animated gifs and for your computer there is a free program called
CyberView Image Light.[nbsp][nbsp]Their pro version is avialable as shareware and costs 29.95 (I think)It can only handle jpg's but is useful to reduce pics for e-mail and other applications.
http://www.cyberviewcd.com/cvimage/index.html

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Have a Good One
Bob

[Shalazar]

A note on banner size...most commercial banner exchange or ad programs prohibit you from having excessively heavy banners (more than 10k), and even have expressed guidelines for weighing in at 7k and under.[nbsp][nbsp]

It's to your advantage, as well as the people pulling the banner from your site, to have an eye-catching, yet "light" banner to aid in quick loading and display.

And as for fancy edges on banners, go for it![nbsp][nbsp]Don't constrain yourself to rectangular edges.[nbsp][nbsp]And if working with .gif format, you can take out those harsh edges by making them transparent so it will work on all backgrounds!

Also a hint on .gif optimization.[nbsp][nbsp]Try and use the "adaptive" color palette whenver you're reducing your colors.[nbsp][nbsp]It works wonders =)


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Shalazar

www.charisma-carpenter.com (http://www.charisma-carpenter.com)
The Internet's Premier site for everything Charisma.

[Charles Capps]

Though it may look better if you play with the Selective and Perceptual (Photoshop 5.5 only) palletes.[nbsp][nbsp]:)

[Rachel Woodlock]

Just wanted to say thank you all for your help :)<-- gratified smiley face.

Rachel