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[EchelonOne]

(Echelon Affiliate Manager) - EAM Pro Alpha 1

Many sites, even now use the marquee tag for scrolling those small or not so small in some cases affiliate images, there is one problem using this method which is the actual tag is no longer compliant HTML standards. So why use a tag that will cause you to lose Strict xHTML compliant coding. This is where an alternative should be considered either using javascript or flash.

We have just added the 'Echelon Affiliate Manager Pro' which you can see running just below our header, okay it is not scrolling ads or affiliates in the conventional way, and designed strictly for banners of 468 x 60. At the moment it is internal server-side fed javascript which is compressed for better embedding. However, the full public release version will place a call for the latest swfobject javascript directly from Google, so the product itself is always 'up-to-date'.

You may well ask why this product was developed, well we do not like like placing Ad Zones all over the website, such a task takes time to configure and even more so if you want to change just one advert. The EAM Pro uses a totally different approach, it is easy to change ads, urls, effects, etc - all of these are configured in just a single XML file, where you enter you ad image locations and urls when clicked on.

Other banner rotators which use javascript will tend to slow your site down, this is due to the amount of javascript used per page load, this can soon add up when you start adding more zones, and page rendering becomes a lot slower. Now let's look at our flash alternative - it uses a small compressed piece of javascript, the actual file size of the rotator is only 19k, all you need to worry about is the file sizes of your banners which in most cases will only be around 20k at most. The EAM Pro caches all images so it only needs to run once to grab all images, after that it will either run ads sequentially or randomized, depending on how you have set it up. It is light-weight and can be used anywhere on a website, we will give you the necessary code to embed it correctly, which is set to avoid issues when used near DHTML menu dropdowns.

Will it work on any forum?
It is designed to work on any forum whether its vBulletin, IPB or XenForo. It is very simple to install on any website, and placed anywhere where you have space.

Will it be available in various sizes?
Our initial release will be 468x60 banners, but there will be numerous other sizes available soon after release.

Will it be heavy on bandwidth?
The EAM Pro is designed in such a way, so it caches the main swf files and all images on the initial load. After that it does not reload unless you make change any images. At just 19-20k in file size it is very light-weight and probably uses less bandwidth than some of those huge animated GIF files you see around on forums.

What image formats can be used?
At the moment is can handle the following formats:
[indent]GIF - Non animated only (this is an issue when feeding a gif image through any flash product)
jpg - You must use non-progressive formats only. Progressive will cause the SWF file to produce errors (this is a known issue with Adobe)
swf - This format can be used as long as the swf uses AS 2.0 (This product will not handle AS 3.0 code)
[/indent]
Will the public released version carry any linkback code?
We normally place linkbacks in all products, this also means it will be branded. The public released version will be exactly 468x60 in dimensions, however a small area will be animated indicating that it is not a brand-free version. A brand-free version will be available on release should you require it.

Will this be a free or commercial modification?
It will be released as a commercial only modification with full instructions on how to install in vBulletin 4.0 or IPB 3.1.2. With the IPB release the actual code does not change as long as you are using IPB 3 or later, the instructions are similar.

The demonstration version on this site is domain locked and will not work on any other domain, it also contains hard-coded urls specific to this domain only.