Adding and configuring banner items

Before you begin

Before you create promotional banners, plan the purpose and the target devices. Some common purposes to use banners include the following:

• Advertising a new or updated service offering in your catalog
• Directing users to an event registration website
• Reminding users to adjust their clocks over the weekend to account for Daylight Saving Time
• Notifying all Apple users that a security update is available

Best practices for uploading banner images

When you select an image to upload for banners, consider the following details:

• The image should have an opaque background to get more control over exactly how they appear on the page. 
• The image should not have important information or borders too close to the edges of the image, because the pixels might get cropped if the image is scaled.
• A full use of wide screens is allowed. If you have four banners next to each other, we recommend that you add more banners to fill up the full-screen width on wider screens.
  Alternatively, a responsive four-banner pattern can be easily created with content blocks in Studio. To learn more, see Creating-pages-in-the-studio.
• File size: Pay attention to the file size before uploading the banner images. You can upload images up to 5 MB in size. The larger images take time to load the banner and the page.

• Aspect ratio: You can upload banner images without any restriction on the aspect ratio. However, for the best visual experience, we recommend the following aspect ratio guidelines: 
  
  

  Banner type	Aspect ratio
  Large (Hero) Banner	4.24:1 with a minimum width of 1540px
  Mobile (Hero) Banner	2.46:1
  Small (Feature) Banner	3:1

To upload banner images

1. Log in to the Catalog console.
2. Select Services > Banners > New Banner.
3. Enter a unique name, and click Create Banner.
   The name will not be visible in the end user console. You will use it only to identify the banner item in the Catalog console.
4. Upload the images to the banner containers. 
   The following image shows available banner formats:
   
5. Configure the Default Banner Settings.

To configure default banner settings

1. Under the Default Banner Settings section, select one or more Targeted OS options to specify all operating systems where the uploaded banner should be visible.
   
   
   
   

2. From the Click action list, select one of the following options.

   Option	Purpose
   External URL	Specify a website address (including the full http/https context).
   Link to service	Select a service item in Published status from your catalog.
   Link to category	Select a category. The banner will direct to the page of the selected category in the BMC Helix Digital Workplace Catalog.
   No action	Define this banner as an information-only announcement.

3. If you selected External URL in step 2, from the Open in list, select one of the following options:
   
   • New window/tab
   • Same window/tab
4. If users of certain devices require click actions that are different from the default choice, complete the steps in the next section; otherwise, click Save.

To define alternative click actions

For different operating systems, you can assign alternative actions to be performed after a user clicks the banner.

1. Next to Exceptions, click Add Exception.
2. Select one of the Targeted OS options from the selected items.
3. From the Click action list, select an option to use for this exception.
4. Repeat these steps for any other exceptions.
5. Click Save.

To publish a banner item for display

1. On the Banners page, select a banner item to publish.
2. Click the menu button (), and select Publish.

3. Go to Services > Entitlements.

   Important

   You must assign a selected banner to a virtual marketplace entitlement group. The settings in Entitlements do not apply to banners automatically.

4. Open or create a virtual marketplace with the designated users who are entitled to have access.
   For instructions about entitling users, see Managing-virtual-marketplaces-by-different-users.
5. On the Edit Virtual Marketplace panel, click Add in the Banners row.
6. 
   
   
7. Select one or more banners and then click Add to include these banners in the virtual marketplace.

8. Click Close.

   Important

   Published banners are shown only to the users entitled to the banner item, and on the devices assigned under Targeted OS.

Where to go from here

Managing-banner-items