Dallas, TX Sign Regulations: Window Signs (2026)

305 of the Dallas Development Code governs attached signs in business zoning districts, and subsection (d) singles out window and glass-door signage: the combined effective area of every sign attached to a given window or glass door cannot exceed 15 percent of that window's or door's area, measured against the whole pane, not just the printed portion. The ordinance goes further than a simple coverage cap: it flatly prohibits placing any sign in the upper two-thirds of a window or glass door, regardless of how small the sign is or how much coverage remains available under the 15 percent ceiling.

That vertical placement rule effectively forces all compliant window signage into the lower third of the glass, which lines up with eye level for pedestrians and vehicle traffic passing storefronts. The code also carries a compliance deadline baked into the text: signs attached to a window or glass door had to be brought into conformity with this provision by September 25, 2008, meaning any window signage predating that date lost its nonconforming-use protection once the deadline passed and must now meet the current 15 percent/lower-third standard like any new installation.

The provision sits inside the broader attached-sign framework of Sec. 305, which also limits attached signage on a primary facade to 25 percent of that facade's area and on secondary facades to 15 percent, so window signs count toward those facade totals in addition to their own dedicated 15 percent window cap. Businesses in the city's special provision sign districts (Uptown, Downtown, West End, Deep Ellum, and others) operate under separate, district-specific window sign rules adopted under Sec. 503 that can set different coverage percentages, so a storefront inside one of those overlay districts should check its district's own division of Article VII rather than this citywide default.