Appleton, WI Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

Window signs get their own coverage formula under Sec. 23-507(a)(14), part of the no-permit list in Article XIV. A temporary window sign, such as a paper poster or seasonal sale banner taped inside the glass, cannot exceed 50 percent of the gross window area on the wall where it is displayed, and any sign placed on a door's glass is capped separately at 10 percent of that door's glass area. Those percentages are measured per wall and per door, so a business with several street-facing windows can post temporary signage in each one as long as no single wall or door crosses its own ratio.

Permanent window signs, ones intended to stay up indefinitely rather than for a sale or event, are treated differently: instead of the 50/10 percent test, their square footage counts toward the building's overall wall-sign allowance in Sec. 23-523(c), which caps wall signage at 35 percent of a building's wall area, or 350 square feet, whichever is less, in the P-I, C-O, C-1, C-2, and CBD districts, and at 10 percent of each wall in the M-1 and M-2 industrial districts. Because window signs are on the no-permit list, a business does not file a sign permit application for ordinary temporary window displays, but exceeding the coverage ratio, or letting a permanent window sign push wall signage over the district's overall cap, is a code violation like any other oversized sign.