[Site Update] Let There Be Ads

The day that was foretold is upon us. Ads have been turned on site-wide. The current ads are very much a preliminary version as we explore different potential configurations.

While I can’t go into too many details about future plans, I wanted to let you know a little more about the current settings for ads.

Where are they?

This isn’t an Easter egg hunt; you won’t have to hunt far to find the ads. They will appear in the sidebar on most pages (exclusions right now include profile pages, the post editing screen, and your dashboard). The current block is a single 300×250 ad typically around the same area as the writing prompt (near the top of the sidebar). There is also a similar 300×250 block on posts below the post body and above the comments.

The most important block for you, our content creators, to keep in mind appears directly above the Skinny within the post body itself. This ad can be up to 300×600 so when posting content, please keep this in mind. A couple suggestions to optimize your content around this block include:

• Don’t add full-width images near the top of your post.
• Avoid large headings at the beginning of your post.
• Right-aligned small images smaller images make cause funky wrapping.

Did you notice…?

There will definitely be some wonkiness as we turn the spigot on for the first time. Here are a few known issues that we’ll be working to resolve going forward:

• Sidebar ads are wider than the sidebar at lower resolutions.
• The Skinny and the in-post ad dance a very odd tango at some lower resolutions.

If you notice any issues with ads, please feel free to take a screenshot and send them to Amy or myself.

Moving forward

Don’t worry that this is the final version of ads on the site. Just as much of the rest of the site has evolved over the past few months, we will look at what works best for both our readers, our contributors, and our advertisers and make sure that we end up with something that’s beneficial to everyone.

We do have other possibilities that we’ll explore over the coming months, and I look forward to sharing more with you soon.