Bannerfish banner ad server
=============================

The latest version of Bannerfish should always be available from:

  http://itamarst.org/software/bannerfish/


 Features
----------
- Supports images and Flash
- Embeds ads using javascript, so it should work with any web platform
- Weighting and multiple ads per page
- Lets customers view banner stats (clicks and views)
- Automatic deactivation of ads

The goal of Bannerfish is to be a small, simple banner ad server
sufficient for the needs of small websites.


 Requirements
--------------
Twisted 1.0
Python 2.2

Bannerfish has been tested under Debian GNU/Linux, but should work
fine under other Unix-like systems and on Windows as well.


 Author and Licensing
----------------------
Bannerfish was written by Itamar Shtull-Trauring (itamar@itamarst.org).

Bannerfish is licensed under the GPL, but licensing under other terms
can be arranged - send me an email.


 Usage 
-------

You can see command-line options by running:
 
  $ mktap bannerfish --help

Create a directory where ads will be stored:
 
  $ mkdir adstorage

Make a 'bannerfish.tap' file (don't forget to set options such as password
for management interface):
 
  $ mktap bannerfish ./adstorage

Now we can run the server (see 'twistd --help' for options):

  $ twistd -f bannerfish.tap

For management go to http://server:6080/manage and login
with username and password you chose.

Your customers can view stats for their ads at http://server:6080/report, 
once you give them the id and password for their banner.


 Embedding Ads 
---------------
Add this to your HTML page:

  <script src="http://server:6080/publish/embed"></script>

If you want to embed multiple ads in one page, e.g. three ads, then put
the following HTML snippets in the page, one for each location:

  <script src="http://server:6080/publish/embed?batch=1/3"></script>

  <script src="http://server:6080/publish/embed?batch=2/3"></script>

  <script src="http://server:6080/publish/embed?batch=3/3"></script>

Bannerfish will do its best to ensure you don't get the same banner ad twice
on the same page, while still taking banner weights into consideration.