To keep your animated GIF banners looking their best across all monitors and platforms, always design them within the 256-color palette. If you use photos in your GIF animation, view them on a low-resolution computer monitor to determine if you want to use them in your banner ad. Most Web publishers expect animated GIF banners to have a file size of less than 12K. To help keep file size to a minimum, use only a few high contrasting and complementary Web colors to call attention to the main points on your banner. Using the smallest Web-safe color palette possible in your animated GIF banners will allow you to use more creative special effects in your animation. In animation, looping refers to the number of times animation repeats itself.
Most Web publishers have strict looping specifications.
Before creating your animated GIF banner, always ask for looping specifications. Determine whether or not to have your main message appear on the first panel of your animated banner ad, the last panel of your banner ad, or both. Many end users will stop a Web page from loading before the banner animation has loaded, leaving only the first frame. Thus, it might be a good idea to have your message come across in your first frame if you know that the Web page on which you are advertising has a long download time. On the other hand, your message might have more punch if it is on the last frame, especially if your last frame will be the final image viewed once the animation is complete.