announcement-bannerslisted

## Overview Announcement banners (the strips at the top of apps and sites) deliver can't-miss messages: launches, maintenance windows, critical alerts, and promotions. This skill covers banner strategy — when banners are appropriate, design, copy, targeting, and the discipline to prevent banner blindness. Announcement banners — the strips atop websites and apps proclaiming launches, maintenance, or urgent news — are the simplest broadcast surface and the easiest to abuse. Effective banner strategy treats them as scarce attention real estate: clear criteria for what qualifies, disciplined copy, and automatic expiry. Everything else is visual noise users learn to ignore. ## When to use - Announcing product launches in-app - Communicating maintenance or downtime - Displaying critical alerts - Promoting time-sensitive offers - Designing banner systems - Fixing banner blindness - Product launches and major announcements - Scheduled maintenance warnings - Urgent service disruptions - Cookie-consent-adjacent policy announcements - Promoting limited-time beta programs - Announcing pricing changes ## Core concepts **Banner hierarchy.** Severity levels: critical (system-wide issues — persistent, high contrast), important (action required — dismissible after reading), informational (nice to know — subtle, auto-expiring). One banner at a time per level — stacking banners trains users to ignore all of them. **When banners fit.** Time-sensitive + broadly relevant + actionable: maint