New dimension for ads

Tomorrow, Dimension X will announce an extension to its Liquid Motion Pro Internet development tool that could help Web advertisers add some pizzazz to their ad banners.

The extension, called Liquid Promotion, will allow designers to create ad banners that offer access to information and that perform electronic commerce transactions, according to the company. For example, an ad banner created using Liquid Promotion could allow users to order merchandise directly from a window on the banner, rather than requiring a user to jump to the merchandiser's own Web site.

According to Karl Jacob, CEO of Dimension X, Liquid Promotion is designed to turn Web ad banners from static billboards into compelling widgets that users are more tempted to interact with.

"The whole idea is, 'Let's use this interactive medium,'" said Jacob. "We have the ability to capture the user and entertain them, get them to interact with the ad. But we're not using it. We can do a much more compelling sale."

Dimension X's tool is one of the first to support a transaction technology called VirtualTAG from First Virtual Holdings that links ad banners to the First Virtual Internet Payment System.

Liquid Motion Pro is a visual Web development tool that generates graphics and interactive content in Java. All of the ad banners created using Liquid Promotion will be Java applets so they can run on every platform that supports Java.

Liquid Promotion will be available to Liquid Motion Pro users in the first quarter of 1997. Liquid Motion Pro is currently available for $725 on the Dimension X's Web site.