Hi,
Although I know Google don't allow you to change or modify the adsense code in any way. I want to know where I can modify the apearance of Adsense for Search using CSS. I know the text ads can be modified in your adsense control panel but the search is pretty simple.

Maybe something like...

button {background:url(image.gif);width:100px; height:40px;}
button:hover {background:url(image2.gif);width:100px; height:40px;}

Would it be alright if I used something like this to customize the submit/search button and even the text field.

So can I do something like this as I am not technically changing the adsense code, just using CSS.

Thanks for your help.

I have tweeked the old search code to change the look a bit more seamless but I have not tried with the new system. Here is the oldschool code they used a few years back....Not sure if its a TOS if you edite this so if your going to do it I would read the google TOS first

<!-- Search Google -->
<center><br><br>
<form method="get" action="http://www.google.com/custom" target="_top">
<table bgcolor="#ffffff">
<tr><td nowrap="nowrap" valign="top" align="left" height="32">
<a href="http://www.google.com/">
<img src="http://www.google.com/logos/Logo_25wht.gif" border="0" alt="Google" align="middle"></img></a>
<input type="text" name="q" size="31" maxlength="255" value=""></input>
<input type="submit" name="sa" value="Search"></input>
<input type="hidden" name="client" value="YOUR CLIENT ID HERE"></input>
<input type="hidden" name="forid" value="1"></input>
<input type="hidden" name="ie" value="ISO-8859-1"></input>
<input type="hidden" name="oe" value="ISO-8859-1"></input>
<input type="hidden" name="cof" value="GALT:#008000;GL:1;DIV:#336699;VLC:663399;AH:center;BGC:FFFFFF;LBGC:336699;ALC:0000FF;LC:0000FF;T:000000;GFNT:0000FF;GIMP:0000FF;FORID:1;"></input>
<input type="hidden" name="hl" value="en"></input>
</td></tr></table>
</form>
</center>
</td></tr></table>
<!-- End Search Google -->

I asked the AdSense team once and you're not allowed to modify the code. You have to take it as is. Modifying it is against the TOS.

Originally Posted by vangogh

I asked the AdSense team once and you're not allowed to modify the code. You have to take it as is. Modifying it is against the TOS.

I'm not thinking of modifying the code given by google. I want to paste the code in my pages and use css to customize the search fields. I can put it in a div and then set the properties of how i want the search to look like. The css will allow me to change a lot of the searchs' appearance but I just wanted to customize the "search" button.

Any help?

That counts as modifying. I realize you're not changing their code, but I think they'd see it as being against the rules.

You can email the AdSense team and ask. I found them to be very helpful the few times I've asked something. They always replied to me within a day or two.

I think Google wants that search box to look exactly as it does, which is why I think the changes you want to make are against the TOS. In my case all I wanted to do was make their code validate and clean it up. I didn't want to change the way anything looked or how it functioned, but it was against the TOS.

I'd ask though. It's been a couple of years since I asked so they may have changed their stance.

You can always edit the background of the ad block via the Ads Setup, while creating them.

To vangogh:

Would you tell me how did you contact Adsense team?

Thank you,

I found an email somewhere. I don't remember what it was or where. It might have been somewhere inside of AdSense or in the help system. If not you can probably find an address for them by searching. Odds are someone has posted it somewhere.

against the TOS big time. That said you can now change the font and sizes from the adsense control panel - not sure if this applies to search box though. That said not sure why you'd want to change search box text?
Regards
Dickie Boy

i do the needful changes to ads with the options available by Adsense and within their TOS. i do not want to violate their TOS anytime as i love my Adsense account very much