Gossamer Forum
Home : Gossamer Threads Inc. : Discussion :

good banner rotation scripts??

Quote Reply
good banner rotation scripts??
There was a nice thread back in August on different options for SQL based banner rotation scripts. I'm sorry I missed that one.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with AdJuggler?
http://www.adjuggler.com

They have different versions at different prices but the higher end tend to be more expensive than www.advertpro.com which was mentioned in the earlier thread.

I'm more concerned about performance/features than price as this would be for an ISP implementation.

Any comments would be appreciated!

Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
Just bought AdvertPRO from www.advertpro.com - a great program ...

Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
My personal advice would be to have a good look around and ask lots of questions before buying!

I use on AdvertPro (as do a few other 'Links' site owners) and have been very happy from day one and satifsied I made the right choice for me, but you have to make sure that whatever package you buy meets YOUR requirements and those of your site, regardless of what 'extra' features it may offer over and above the standard banner serving capability.

I looked around for weeks and narrowed my search to a handfull of possibly solutions, then emailed each of the companies with a list of features I required and asked a lot of questions about how I would implement various instances of their scripts, and how I could integrate them into my site. I told them what I planned to do (I wanted to get MORE from the new package not less!) and asked their advice about how their scripts would cope with a variety of traffic levels, and what the server requirements were (I'm on a virtual account and needed something that wasn't too heavy on resources).

The responses varied from - No response at all (needless to say they got dropped from my list like a brick!!) to Full and informative explanations of the features and how I would work them into my site (I could tell which ones took the time to look at my site before replying!).

Its a difficult decision to make, especially if you don't have the funds to buy several different packages, and unfortunately its not possible to "try before you buy", but bear in mind that YOU have the choice and you can take as much time as you like before deciding where to spend your money.

Another possible route to helping you decide is to email people who are already using the packages you are interested in. You should get an honest and relative opinion from webmasters who are having to work with the scripts, and I'm sure you'll quickly get to see which ones are easiest to work with.

Good luck ... Smile

All the best
Shaun

Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
I've been playing with AdvertPro on several sites, and have had some communication with the author of the program (and have even been asked to develop the Links SQL plug-in) so my answers may not be completely unbiased, but I am used to accepting "bribes" from companies and sales people and still telling them exactly what I think of their product <G> (as most here know, I rarely hold anything back <G>)

Anyway, I was about to start a thread in the Links Discussion area or, really, the New Links area (since this will apply to the new links).

A mod_perl compatible version of AdvertPro is expected in February of next year, in their version 4.0 (check the advertpro website).

This will increase the performance, and hopefully break down the last barriers to creating a fully integrated banner rotation program for Links SQL.

http://www.postcards.com
FAQ: http://www.postcards.com/FAQ/LinkSQL/

Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
I also use AdvertPro and recommend it.

pugdog, check out the integration I did for Links 2.0. It may help you if you do the Links SQL integration. In fact, there may not need to be any changes at all:
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/...ces/jump.cgi?ID=1182

Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
I'll take a look, it would be a place to start, but Links SQL has a 'plug in' feature, and hooks for banners, and such, so I'm looking (and I think most users are seeking) a fully integrated product that can "plug-in" with very limited modifications, and a lot of added features <G>

It's the last part that is the biggie.

If you look at what I posted in the New Links forum, one feature would be the ability to define links as banners, so that you can create a 'featured' links area, to generate additional revenue from site owners or highlight certain products.

And, potential integration into the user base for targeted advertising to the members.

Maybe my sights are too high, but it's a goal :)



http://www.postcards.com
FAQ: http://www.postcards.com/FAQ/LinkSQL/

Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
I use AdCycle from http://www.adcycle.com I find it easy to use, full of options, and has keyword usage, so if someone searches my links for The Sims (we run a software review site with Links), then adcycle checks to see if any of the ads are associated with "the sims", if so it shows that ad, if not, it shows the next available ad in rotation. Like I said, it's full of usefull features.

Harrison

"I've got if's pretty good, but that's about it"
Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
It does have some nice features, and it's changed along the way.

The problem is the first few versions left a bad taste in my mouth. It's definitely a possibility, and some people are using it, but I've got a little bias against it. It does have a cute interface... but it also had one of the worst database structures I'd ever seen!!

I downloaded the current version to check it out last weekend, but never got around to it.

(I got a square tuit, but it's not the same thing).

PUGDOGŪ
PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ: http://postcards.com/FAQ


Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
I have a copy of advertpro installed on the FAQ Beta site, trying to integrate the program. It's running off the same servers as the website, and you can see the performance lag in advertpro (at least I can on a DSL line).

The top image on the category pages, and the 468x60 banner are served via advertpro -- one rotating, one static.

The other two images are statically served as images directly off the server -- the mugs and consulting.

BTW... these are real ads/advertisers I've moved over to test. I have been working with advertpro on several sites, and noticed a lag, but was unable to determine if it was their servers or the program. I think on my servers, I can fairly safely say, the program would _immensely_ benefit from a move to mod_perl, and a rework of the banner-serving logic to pull more of the processing into a back-end job, and simply fetch banners with the banner script itself.

Part of the integration problem has been that Links SQl is use strict compatible, so that trying to do much more than include the advertpro codes in a page is not really possible. The banner.pl program incurs a lot of overhead, and still think that using a back-end cron-job to create a dataserver type environment for the ad script might improve performance above and beyond mod_perl issues.

Anyway... I'm still working on all this.

PUGDOGŪ
PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ: http://postcards.com/FAQ


Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
Pugdog,

The main 'lag' I find on my pages is in the ad-network. AP seems to do the calls fairly quickly (although I'm sure AP can be improved with mod_perl), but then you're relying on the ad-network's server to select an ad and place it on your page in the 'spot' AP makes.

I suppose a better test would be to put the ads on your own server and see how quickly they appear then.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you are working with AP on the 'Links' integration and I can't wait to see what wonderful things they manage to come up with over the next 12 months Smile

All the best
Shaun

Quote Reply
Re: good banner rotation scripts?? In reply to
Well, that's what I'm doing... and you can see the stuff directly served via the HTTP server come up really fast, and the delay in the advertpro picking a b anner.

Until I installed it on my own servers, I couldn't tell if it was AP or the underlying server causing the problems. Now I see that there is a calculational lag in AP. If you look at what it's trying to do to serve a simple banner .... then the JS code wrapped around it. I don't know how to figure any of that into the equations.

I'm wavering as much on this issue as I am on the minivend/interchange vs my own catalog program. FWIW... programs that are more than a year old (the older, the more they suffer) are no where near the code-quality of the newer ones. Why? stability and maturity in both the webserver, perl and http areas.

Many prorams are in desperate need of a complete rewrite, which is why I'm not pushing or griping about the delays with Links. Things have changed so much, that it's possible for someone to come around and in a couple of months rewrite the major features of wwwthreads, UBB or minivend into a cleaner system. They may be missing a few of the more esoteric features, and lots of the legacy/compatibility features, but that is more of a plus than a minus.

The past two weeks have been frustrating for me waiting for Links, and trying to figure out the new layout, and then wavering between existing GPL source programs or writing a whole set of new ones using the GT modules as the base (after all, that is what I need them for, and many of the GT modules are better than what is currently out there).

FWIW, as powerful and complex as IC is, (minivend/interchange) I don't see why it needs to have a sub-server doing things, when pulling the pages directly through a template parser would do similar, and probably better things. The new GT model of allowing functions in template tags almost gets rid of the need for something as behemoth as mv/IC.... and I'm begining to feel the same way about several other programs.

For instance, my postcards program is a fraction of the size, and far more powerful than it's original, simply by using a few calls to DBSQL.pm and using the Links::Template parser.

The logic is cleaner, and more straight forward, and hopefully, for those using Links and GossMail... it will all be the same.

At some point I'm going to have to bite the bullet here, but I've learned the design stage is the most important. The code can (and sometimes does) write itself if it's planned out ahead of time. The biggest things are re-writes or code changes for unforeseen problems or added features.



PUGDOGŪ
PUGDOGŪ Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ: http://postcards.com/FAQ