Home ยป Banners

Adding banners

To add a banner to a campaign, click the Add new banner link on the Campaign properties > Banner overview tab.

See also: Adding Flash banners for additional requirements for adding Flash banners.

Required information

Select banner type

In the banner type drop-down menu, the first three options are different serving arrangements for image banners. See also: Banner types

Select one of the following options:

  • Local banner (SQL) for image banners in a local SQL database, served by OpenX
  • Local banner (Webserver) for image banners stored locally or on an FTP site and served by a web server
  • External banner for image banners stored on a remote server, for example served by an advertiser
    Important: You cannot use click-tracking with Flash banners stored on an external server. See also:Adding a Flash banner.
  • HTML banner
  • Text banner

If the menu does not contain all options, it is possible that the system administrator deactivated the missing types.

More information: Contact your system administrator or refer to the Banner settings section of the OpenX Administrator Guide.

When you select an option, the page refreshes to display the form for this banner type.

Add banner

To add a banner:

  • Local SQL and Webserver banners: Click the Browse button, navigate to the banner file and select the file to upload to the server.
  • External banners: Enter a full URL in the Image URL field, including the http:// prefix.
  • HTML banners: You can enter HTML directly into the text box or use HTML from an external ad server by selecing it from the list in the HTML banner drop-down menu. When you enter HTML code, use the Return or Enter key to start a new line of code. Do not enter HTML or BODY tags because these are provided by the target HTML page. Tick the Alter HTML to enable tracking of Clicks checkbox to add click tracking code to the banner.
    Important: OpenX inserts the HTML into the page that hosts the ad tag. If you omit a character, such as a closing bracket, it can adversely affect the display of the web page.
  • Text banners: Enter text in the Text ad box. Use the Return or Enter key to start a new line of text if required.

Destination URL

Enter the Destination URL to visit when a user clicks a banner, including the http:// prefix.

Optional information

  • Define the target
  • Add HTML attributes
  • Set additional options
  • Add personal notes

Define the target

For all banner types, you can set the frame for the destination URL in the Target field. The default target, is _blank, opens the URL in a new window.

More information: Refer to the W3C description of target options.

Add HTML attributes

You can enter the following HTML attributes:

  • For image banners only, Alt text appears as a 'tooltip' when the mouse passes over the banner and also forms the title bar text for a popup window. The tip provides the location of the image if the image file has not yet downloaded. If you leave this field blank, no text is displayed.
  • For image and text banners only, Status text appears in the brower status bar when the mouse passes over a banner. In JavaScript-enabled browsers, the default status is the destination URL but can be any text you enter.
    Note: Some browsers and browser plugins disable the status message. If you do not see a status message, this can be the cause.
  • For image banners only, Text below image appears below the banner and links to the destination URL. You can format this text using basic HTML tags. If you leave the field blank, no text appears below the banner.
  • For external and HTML banners only, you must enter Width and Height size attributes because Openads cannot determine the dimensions for these banners.

Additional options

You can set the following additional options:

  • In the Keywords field, you can enter keywords for a banner, using a space to separate multiple keywords. OpenX uses the keywords to determine which banner to display when using direct selection. See also: Delivering banners using Direct Selection.
  • In the Description field, you can enter text to help identify the banner in lists.
  • The value in the Weight field influences the likelihood that a banner will be displayed. A banner with a weight of 3 is likely to be displayed three times as often as a banner with a weight of 1 within the same campaign.

Add notes

In the Comment field, you can enter comments and notes about the banner.

When you click Save Changes, the Delivery options page is displayed. See also: Delivery options.