Types of web banners

Flash banners | Animated gif banners | Static banners | Interactive banners

A banner can be a single image, a flash movie or composed of different elements (graphic and HTML code). Single image banner can be animated (using the GIF89a format - animated gifs) or static images (.gifs or .jpgs). JPG images cannot be animated.

Flash technology developed by Macromedia to serve rich multimedia content over the Internet has brought a new dimension to banner ad design. Statistically, Flash banners result in higher click-thru rates than other banners. This is attributed to smooth animation and special effects that can be developed in Flash. Though Flash banners may involve a lot of animation, their file sizes are relatively small, as compared to the corresponding animated gif web banners. Also, the animation is much smoother that animated gifs. This is due to the inherent nature of Flash, which is a vector-based program. Furthermore, flash banners can be made interactive, responding to mouse-clicks and mouse-overs.

Composite banners contain graphic elements and HTML code. Graphic elements can be gif, jpg images or flash movies. HTML code is embedded in such composite banners to either bring interactivity or to display HTML form elements such as drop down menus, radio buttons, checkboxes etc.