Adobe 38039481 User Guide - Page 489

Tracking advertisements

Page 489 highlights

FLASH CS3 483 User Guide • Create a GIF banner advertisement in Flash that is 12K or smaller. • Limit looping banner advertisements to three repetitions. Many websites adopt the standardized file size recom- mendations as advertising specifications. • Use the GET command to pass data between an advertisement and a server, and do not use the POST command. For more information on GET and POST, see the getURL function in ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference. Note: Provide control to the user. If you add sound to an advertisement, also add a mute button. If you create a transparent Flash ad that hovers over a web page, provide a button to close the advertisement for its duration. See also "Optimizing graphics and animation" on page 486 Tracking advertisements Several leading advertising networks now support standardized tracking methods in Flash SWF files. The following guidelines describe the supported tracking methodology: Create a button or movie clip button Use standardized dimensions outlined by the IAB. For a list of standardized dimensions, see the IAB website. For more information on creating a button in Flash, see "Create a button" on page 220. Add a script to the button Executes when a user clicks the banner. You might use the getURL() function to open a new browser window. The following code snippets are two examples of ActionScript 2.0 code you might add to Frame 1 of the Timeline: myButton_btn.onRelease = function(){ getURL(clickTAG, "_blank"); }; You might add the following code to Frame 1 of the Timeline: myButton_btn.onRelease = function() { if (clickTAG.substr(0, 5) == "http:") { getURL(clickTAG); } }; The getURL() function adds the variable passed in the object and embed tags, and then sends the browser that is launched to the specified location. The server hosting the ad can track clicks on the advertisement. For more information on using the getURL() function, see ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference. Assign clickTAG code for tracking Tracks the advertisement and helps the network serving the ad to track where the ad appears and when it is clicked. The process is the standard way of creating an advertising campaign for a typical Flash advertisement. If you assign the getURL() function to the banner, you can use the following process to add tracking to the banner. The following example lets you append a variable to a URL string to pass data, which lets you set dynamic variables for each banner, instead of creating a separate banner for each domain. You can use a single banner for the entire campaign, and any server that is hosting the ad can track the clicks on the banner. In the object and embed tags in your HTML, you would add code similar to the following example (where www.helpexamples.com is the ad network, and adobe.com is the company with an advertisement):

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FLASH CS3
User Guide
483
Create a GIF banner advertisement in Flash that is 12K or smaller.
Limit looping banner advertisements to three repetitions. Many websites adopt the standardized file size recom-
mendations as advertising specifications.
Use the
GET
command to pass data between an advertisement and a server, and do not use the
POST
command.
For more information on GET and POST, see the getURL function in
ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference
.
Note:
Provide control to the user. If you add sound to an advertisement, also add a mute button. If you create a trans-
parent Flash ad that hovers over a web page, provide a button to close the advertisement for its duration.
See also
“Optimizing graphics and animation” on page
486
Tracking advertisements
Several leading advertising networks now support standardized tracking methods in Flash SWF files. The following
guidelines describe the supported tracking methodology:
Create a button or movie clip button
Use standardized dimensions outlined by the IAB. For a list of standardized
dimensions, see the IAB website. For more information on creating a button in Flash, see “Create a button” on
page
220.
Add a script to the button
Executes when a user clicks the banner. You might use the
getURL()
function to open a
new browser window. The following code snippets are two examples of ActionScript 2.0 code you might add to
Frame 1 of the Timeline:
myButton_btn.onRelease = function(){
getURL(clickTAG, "_blank");
};
You might add the following code to Frame 1 of the Timeline:
myButton_btn.onRelease = function() {
if (clickTAG.substr(0, 5) == "http:") {
getURL(clickTAG);
}
};
The
getURL()
function adds the variable passed in the
object
and
embed
tags, and then sends the browser that is
launched to the specified location. The server hosting the ad can track clicks on the advertisement. For more infor-
mation on using the
getURL()
function, see
ActionScript 2.0 Language Reference
.
Assign clickTAG code for tracking
Tracks the advertisement and helps the network serving the ad to track where the
ad appears and when it is clicked.
The process is the standard way of creating an advertising campaign for a typical Flash advertisement. If you assign
the
getURL()
function to the banner, you can use the following process to add tracking to the banner. The following
example lets you append a variable to a URL string to pass data, which lets you set dynamic variables for each banner,
instead of creating a separate banner for each domain. You can use a single banner for the entire campaign, and any
server that is hosting the ad can track the clicks on the banner.
In the
object
and
embed
tags in your HTML, you would add code similar to the following example (where
www.helpexamples.com is the ad network, and adobe.com is the company with an advertisement):
<EMBED src="your_ad.swf?clickTAG= http://helpexamples.com/tracking?http://www.adobe.com">