Is there any way to make the ad area transparent so a texture or back ground image can show through? www.swordandsorcery.org left hand column 0 I sure with the texture would show.....
Not in the way you're describing. Not that I know of anyway. I would imagine it would take some tweaking of the code, which would violate TOS
There isn't any way to do it without violating the TOS. I think google doesn't allow it because they want to make sure there is enough contrast between the text and background. They won't even allow certain colors of text against certain colors of a solid background. Premium publishers can get changes approved, but you need 750,000 page views a month to apply.
Thanks.... I figured such was the case. Hadn't thought of the contrast thing. Good point. Only about 600,000 page views to go!
you can put background images that "hold" the ads without violating the tos. You can also make a Flash swf with the skyscraper cut out to hold the ads. I can show you how to make the middle part transparent if you want.
I was talking about making a flashy frame for the ads, not what the OP wanted. Something with bells and whistles bringing attention to the ads, but no words saying "click here". To do that you made a swf with some movement, alpha value adjustments, and whatever else floats your boat. Make sure the middle part is left as a background layer. In Flash set html publish settings to window mode - opaque -transparent, and in Dreamweaver and set parameters to wmode - transparent, and you have your flashy ad frames. I am not 100% on the ethical ( or even Google legal) use of this so I refrain for now.
I guess I am glad I haven't tried it then. I just realized it would only work if you have everything positioned absolute and put the swf in new layer.