Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
taken directly to a results page upon submitting their data, they can
choose the flight and hotel they like and topic them right away.
There
s no need to search around the Orbitocities site to find what
they are looking for because you seamlessly took them directly
where they wanted to go. So now let
'
s go back behind the scenes
again and discuss what it took to get them there by going through
the following sections:
￿
'
Where Are You Going?
￿
File Size Consumption
￿
Collecting and Passing Data
Where Are You Going?
The biggest piece of information you
ll need when using forms in
your banner ads is exactly where you need to send your users. In
some cases, you
'
'
ll send them to a page where the information
from the form only partially completes all the information needed
for the results. Our Typical Motors example would be a good exam-
ple of this because there usually isn
t enough room on the stage in
a banner to include a form that would ask for all the information
needed about selecting a new car. There are trim packages, engine
sizes, custom wheels, leather or cloth interior, and so on. So you
use a couple of options such as the trim package and paint color
and then leave the rest for users to fill out on the site. While this
doesn
'
t instantly return the results a user was looking for on a new
car, it does get him or her one step closer to that end goal. On the
other hand, our travel company, Orbitocities, only needs to know
the dates and cities that a user will travel to and from. With only
four pieces of information to gather, this can easily fit within our
banner dimensions, and the user can be taken to a page with full
results.
'
Required Variables
You can probably guess that knowing where you need to send your
users is really only a part of the information you need to complete
your task. You
'
ll also need to know name and value pairs for the
form you
re asking them to complete. You can get this information
in a couple of ways: you can ask your client to get it for you, or
you can get it directly from the forms on their site. I often choose
the latter simply for the sake of speed and efficiency. The reason
I say speed and efficiency is because your contact at your client
'
s
offices is not very often one of the people who wrote the code on
their site. Knowing that, you may have to ask your contact for the
information and expect some delay. The delay is simply because
your contact may need to get your requested information from their
'
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