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This is the third and last “lesson” regarding the differences between the flash, static and gif banners. You can read the previous articles here and here. Today we’ll talk about gif banners.

GIF banners

GIF banners are animated or static images that contain images and text and carry the .gif extension. Animated GIFs comprise a number of images (frames) that are displayed one after another and thus creating the sense of motion. A GIF file that contains only a frame is static.

Example:

Advantages:

1. GIF banners are accepted by most publishers
2. They may contain animations
3. Can tell relatively complex stories through slides
4. They have a very low file size
5. They require no plug-ins for the users to view them
6. To make a GIF banner you do not need a flash programmer*
7. GIF banners work on mobile devices

Disadvantages:

1. GIF banners are not interactive
2. They often exhibit compression artifacts
3. They can be very annoying (especially the ones that blink and change color at a fast pace rate)
4. GIF banners are not as engaging as the flash ones

*Until the launch of BannerSnack – The quick & easy banner maker, skeduled in December. From then on you’ll be able to make flash ads without a flasher. Sign up for a FREE BannerSnack license.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 4:19 am and is filed under Banner Advertising Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.