I’ll stick with the static images for ads. I’ve seen animated gifs that do exactly what one of the above does. As for flash, I installed flashblocker a long time ago.
I had sent Macromedia a suggestion years ago that they offer the user an option of seeing the flash animation or a static image that would launch the animation; this way, if the user selected the non-animated default, they would at least see some image indicating what the flash animation was about. Now, if the user has a flash blocker installed, they just get the “f” and might have no idea what lurks behind it. Since they ignored it, their users now effectively get a blank area and the advertiser gets no visibility.
Rules I have for advertising:
- Don’t make it obnoxious.
- If you use an animated image, make sure the first and last frames are meaningful by themselves; this handles the no and run-once animation cases.
- Don’t use Flash. Actually, don’t even use it on the main page on your website or any other page unless it really serves a useful function. See rule 1.
I agree. I run a mix of ads from text to animated depending on the site they’re on. I also range from annoying to faux-stylish ads. I can’t stand the ads that have the spaztic dancer on them and usually contact the site owner and let them know that I will be hesitant to come back because of that.
That being said, great strip about ads, 99.9% of webcomics people will relate, fer shure!