TopCities.com - Free Web Pages For Everyone
Help Upgrade Your Account Help Forum File Manager TopCities Home Page

Register Your Own Domain Name for Only $8.88/Year! .

Help With TopCities Banner On Pages: Back to the Main FAQ

With TopCities, you can choose between two different kinds of banner ads in your html pages, inline, or pop-up's. By default, your pages display inline banners.

Select one to find out more information:

 

Inline Banners (Default)

By default, inline banners are inserted into member pages. These are banners inserted directly into the top of an html document. For this to take effect in your pages, you don't have to do anything extra.

 

Pop-up Banners

Running a pop-up banner is an option for members who do not want inline banners in their html pages. This is especially true for those running sites with frames, as inline banners tend to mess things up. To select this option, simply do the following:

Insert "<!-- %%NOBANNER%% -->" (without the quotes of course) in the beginning of your html page(s).

Things to watch out for:

  • Make sure you insert the tag exactly as listed above, preserving all spaces and paying special attention to case. Examples of tags that will NOT work:
    • "<!-- %%nobanner%% -->" - Improper casing
    • "<!--%%NOBANNER%%-->" - Improper spacing
    • "<!-- %NOBANNER% -->" - Left out two "%"s
  • Place the code in the beginning of your html page(s). The best place to place it is right after the opening "<html>" tag. If the code is placed too far down from the beginning of the html page, our server might not see it and you'll end up with an inline banner instead.
  • If you are running frames on your site, make sure to place the tag in every frame. If you don't, you will see inline banners in every single sub-frame.

 

Problems With Sites Using Frames

Running Inline Banners in sites that utilize frames poses a couple of problems:

  • Page becomes blank with nothing but the banner - This is caused by browsers confused with the inline banner in your main frame source page.
  • Inline banners seem to appear in every single frame, thus wreaking havoc with intended site layouts.

To get rid of these potentially annoying problems, simply display the pop-up ad instead by following these directions.

 

Why Does My Page Have Multiple Banners?

Incorrect html syntax can lead to unpredictable banner placements. One common problem is a member page with multiple banners inserted. This is almost always caused by extra <body> tags in the html page. Proper html syntax says you should only have one <body> tag per html page. Please examine your source code and take out any/all unnecessary tags and your problem should go away.

 

I Am Getting a Pop-up Banner No Matter What I Do. What is Going On?

By default, member pages should have an inline banner, unless you add the
"<!-- %%NOBANNER%% -->" tag, as specified here. However, if your page has certain html syntax errors, you might end up with pop-up banners no matter what else you do.

Here are some common syntax errors that can cause pop-ups to appear. If you find them, correct them and the pop-ups should go away:

  • No "<body>" tag -
    proper html syntax says you need to have one set of "<body></body>" tags inside your html document. If these are not found, a pop-up banner will be inserted.
  • Incorrect syntax within your opening "<body>" tag -
    Example: <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF> (missing a end quote)

 

Can I Have an Account With No Banners?

This is an option we are actively working on. We plan to offer paid accounts which will carry no ads whatsoever for members who need it. Please stay tuned...

 

Why the Banners?

The reason we need to place the banners is simple: We need to generate revenue to cover our hardware, software, service, and maintenance costs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 1999-2008 Topcities.com.  All Rights Reserved.
Link To Us  Contact Us  Advertise
Privacy Vow  Terms of Use