BANNER SPECIFICATIONS:

I. By Banner Dimensions:

The Internet Advertising Bureau suggests the standard banner sizes all sites and designers should follow when dealing with internet banner ads.

Those are the 468 x 60 Banners, 234 x 60 Half Banners, 88 x 31 Micro Bar Banners, 120 x 90 Buttons, 120 x 60 Buttons, 120 x 240 Vertical Banners, 125 x 125 Square Buttons, 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle Banner, 250 x 250 Square Pop Ups, 240 x 400 Vertical Rectangles, 336 x 280 Large Rectangles, 180 x 150 Rectangles, 160 x 600 Wide Skyscraper Ads, and the 120 x 600 Skyscraper ads.

To maintain industry uniformity, these standards should be strictly adhered to. If you would like to see actual examples of each banner size, click here to VIEW ACTUAL IAB EXAMPLES

II. By Site Specifications:

Banners are also limited by the sites where you place it. Each site will specify what it will allow in its advertising area.

1) Most allow .gif or .jpg banners, with animation sequences for the GIF files.

2) When animated, some will limit how long the animation can run from six to thirty seconds. Other sites might limit how many loops you can run of the animation. (usually to 1-3 if limited at all.)

3) All will usually limit the file size to around 10 - 20kbs. It use to be 10kbs as a norm, but wiith the advent of broadband and faster internet connections, many now allow 12kbs to 15 kb files sizes. (this is important because in the banner development business, every kb counts.)

4) Some will limit alternative text descriptions of your banner to a certain limit of characters or letters and spaces. (65 is pretty normal)

5) Many will have limitations on alternative file types like Java, Javascript, HTML, Rich Media (Blue Streak, Enliven, Eye Wonder, Klipmart, ...) Flash, pop ups, pulldowns, search banners, superstitials, and institials. So if you are thinking of running one of these, definitely consult the sites first to see what you can do there.

6) Many will ask for around two days lead time to receive your creative work and test it. Allow at least five days for most multimedia, Rich Media creative.

7) If running rich media or alternatives, they will usually ask for "sniffer programs to run with this" (programs that determine whether the customer's computer can handle the file, like Flash, if they cannot, it sends them a GIF file instead.) and an alternative GIF file for those who cannot see the special banner.

8) Watch the rate cards, many will also require minimum impression purchases, making it cost prohibitive to a small company. ($35 CPM, but a minimum of 100,000 must be purchased per run. This means you have to invest a minimum of $3,500 to run a campaign at that site.)

However, each site will provide its own specs so it is worthwhile to visit this page before your banner creative is made to see how you are limited. Visit the links below for samples of this.