Howto Add a timeout to a javascript ad tag

[Neil Sandow]

My site with servers located on the West Coast runs ads served by an
adserver on the East Coast. A not infrequent problem occurs when a
user on the West Coast tries to load a page but for whatever reason
can't reach the adserver. It causes a portion or the entire page to
hang until the request times out. This can take up to 30 seconds or
more. Is there a way to set up a time frame which will drop the
request or route it to a local default file under these circumstances?

Here's an example of a current tag for a 468 x 60 banner:

<!-- CODE FOR TOP BANNER -->
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1"
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"></SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--_version=10;
//--> </SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1">
<!--_version=11; // --> </SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!--if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE 3')>
-1){document.write('<IFRAME WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 MARGINWIDTH=0
MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no
BORDERCOLOR="#000000"
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"></iframe>');}
else if (_version < 11) {document.write ('<A
HREF="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%">');document.write
('<img alt="
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"
border=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60></a>');}// --></SCRIPT>
Thanks! -Neil

[Ivo]

Looks like your page doesn't need any of the code you posted. If so, why not
remove all of this, and tell the page in one line of script to load the ad
scripts after it has finished loading.
Or remove the urls from the code, and set them dynamically onload.

"Neil Sandow" <[e-mail]> wrote in message
news:PI********************@newssvr14.news.prodigy .com...

user on the West Coast tries to load a page but for whatever reason
can't reach the adserver. It causes a portion or the entire page to
hang until the request times out. This can take up to 30 seconds or
more. Is there a way to set up a time frame which will drop the
request or route it to a local default file under these circumstances?

Here's an example of a current tag for a 468 x 60 banner:

<!-- CODE FOR TOP BANNER -->
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1"
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_jx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%
%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"></SCRIPT> <SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--_version=10;
//--> </SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1">
<!--_version=11; // --> </SCRIPT>
<SCRIPT TYPE='text/javascript' LANGUAGE="JavaScript">
<!--if (navigator.appVersion.indexOf('MSIE 3')>
-1){document.write('<IFRAME WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 MARGINWIDTH=0
MARGINHEIGHT=0 HSPACE=0 VSPACE=0 FRAMEBORDER=0 SCROLLING=no
BORDERCOLOR="#000000"
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_sx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%
%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%"></iframe>');} else if (_version < 11) {document.write ('<A
HREF="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/click_nx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%%I
D%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%">');document.write ('<img alt="
SRC="http://ads.mdchoice.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.cgi/www.rxlist.com/A%
%ID%%@Top?topic=%%CAT%%" border=0 WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60></a>');}// --></SCRIPT>
Thanks! -Neil