AdWonder Blog

Sooo… here’s a little strange nugget of information we just discovered while loading in a .txt file into Flash content using loadVars.load(): the ActiveX Flash Player in IE 6 does NOT like GZIP compression and cache-control being set to no-cache from an HTTP request. Flash also doesn’t allow you to change the response type client-side, so the only solution is to change the host. We didn’t figure this out, this guy or gal did (thank you!). Also note - he’s specifically talking about XML here, but we also had this issue with plain Text files.  Needless to say, the EyeWonder staging and live environments now take this into account, so load away with those txt files!

I realized recently that some of the same questions come up from component users over and over again, so while we make these things clearer in the UI, I thought I’d also remind people of two cool things about the AdWonder Component:

1. The Component version relates to the version of Flash Studio you are using, not to the swf version that you need to publish. For instance, if you are editing a file that will be published in Flash 8, but you are using the Adobe CS3 version of the Flash editing application, you will still be using AdWonder 9.1 (or whatever subrelease is currently available).  AdWonder 8 is because we still support the use of Flash 8 for those of you who haven’t been able to get CS3 yet.

2. If you need to edit a bunch of different ads at once, open up the AdWonder panel and publish the ad through the tool. The correct copy of the main FLA and any additional FLA assets that are checked will open and stay open after publishing.

This is a great video and very relevant to the world of online advertising.

How many moonwalking bears have you put into your rich media executions, only to see the interactions associated with them never exactly delivered as you had hoped? They are not always moonwalking bears, but I have seen my fair share of really amazing, compelling, engaging, interactive elements in a banner get ignored because of extraneous animation, graphics, copy, you name it.Plain and simple - users are not on the page to interact with your banner. If you can make sure whatever you are trying get them to interact with is apparent and not hidden, your campaign will go from meh to magnificent.

Show your call to action quicker - cut the copy down, remove frames from the animation and make it clear what you would like the user to do and what they will get for performing the action.

Mouseover for More sounds a lot less appetizing than Mouseover to take the quiz and to print a $5 coupon. Obviously I’m not a copywriter and you don’t need to rewrite the production brief, but clarity should not be a rarity for call to action copy.

I used to love the Where’s Waldo books when I was younger, but there is no better way to lose a potential user than hiding the call to action. It’s just not that much fun, nor is it very effective. All to often I see a button or some copy hidden away in a corner or camouflaged amongst crazy graphics that makes very little sense.

If you’ve got something as cool as a moonwalking bear, make sure you let the user know and don’t have them counting the number of basketball passes.

Even though many sites have become more progressive in what they allow from a file size perspective, we are constantly battling specs and working closely with designers and developers at agencies to optimize their Flash files to be within spec and not sacrifice the quality and overall concept of the banner execution.

One of our fantastic production designers and Component Support Specialists put together this list of tips for optimizing flash files. I know a few folks have already benefited from this info and although some of it may not be new to you, these are some great best practices to incorporate for future projects whether you are in a bind for a little more K size or not!

Thanks James for putting this together!

IMAGES AND ARTWORK
1. First off, check the quality settings of any bitmaps in your library. This is the prime culprit in most cases.

2. If your FLA has any complex vector artwork with lots of anchor points, see about optimizing it a bit.

FONTS
1. Check font embedding. If you have any dynamic or input text in your FLA, check to see which characters are being embedded.

2. Has any text been converted to vector outlines (this can add a lot to filesize)? If possible try to recreate the outlined text with the actual font

EXTERNAL FILES
1. Are there any class files or .as files being included? Check their file sizes and make sure you’re only including what you need.

2. Also, is there any content in your FLA that could be moved to a child/external FLA? Look for items in your movie that may not show up until after a user interaction or something like that. In most cases, it won’t help to move items into an external file if they must be loaded in the moment the ad begins to play - since many sites consider that part of the initial file size.

UNUSED ITEMS IN LIBRARY
1. Even if they’re not being used in your timeline, Flash components (buttons, combo boxes, etc.) in your library are still exported into the SWF when it’s published. Many times, removing these unused components drops file size considerably.

2. On the same note, check for any MovieClips that are being exported for runtime sharing. If you are no longer using them, turning off the linkage for that item might help lower file size.