As the animated web banner design is gaining popularity some useful points on it is beneficial. We will have a look at them.

The animated banner must be subtle enough to catch the attention of the viewers, at the same time it should not be ostentatious to interfere or clash with the main web site design for the ad campaign. Visitors easily get irritated by an animation that loops endlessly. Keep the animation loops 7-10 times and leave the main message on the last frame.

It is estimated that animated banners generate nearly 30% more click-thru rates than static ones. The main disadvantage with animated banners is that it results in larger file sizes. But it is possible to bring the file size below the required value by decreasing the number of colors used and vertical color change and optimizing an animated GIF banner.

GIF images can include only 256 colors and the image compression algorithm works best when the image has a single color on large areas.

The compression algorithm cannot do full justice to photos since they are complex images; the result is large file sizes. So better avoid using photos in animated GIFs or keep very little animation in the banners if photos are used.

Employing Flash photos could be embed as JPGs, the ideal format for

photographs and similar complex images. And also the compression levels of JPGs can be effectively controlled and even the text or the photo could be animated with Flash.

Flash has introduced an entirely new area in advertisement through web banner design. Animations developed by Flash are much smoother than the animated GIFs and the file sizes are also much smaller. Flash banners are produced in such a way that the visitors can interact with them directly. Flash banners generate much more click-thru rates than animated GIFs.

Here you may ask whether the days of animated GIFs are over. The answer is both ‘Yes and No’. The viewers’ system needs a plugin to display Flash banners. All the surfers would not have this plugin and the percentage of plugin users are decreasing day by day. Whenever a Flash banner is submitted for a banner ad campaign there is demand for the GIF version too. So animated GIFs are still in the race very much.

Every thing OK, how much time should an animated banner be displayed? Studies have revealed that a typical surfer will spend only less than ten seconds looking at the top of a web page where the banner is usually displayed. So the web banner should reveal all its content in this short time. The call to action, the last frame of an animated banner has to be displayed within this time frame; otherwise the banner will lose its efficacy.