Forum Moderators: open

Message Too Old, No Replies

Why is marquee tag so hated?

Any good reasons?

         

lukasz

6:17 am on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Are there any good reason to avoid marquee tag.
It is supported by Netscape 7 an Mozilla, however it is not a HTML tag so it wouldnt validate. But, any other reasons.

Hester

8:16 am on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I thought it was IE only. Either way, it won't be supported by all browsers so don't use it. Sadly the same goes for <blink>. (Glad to see it return in the XHTML 2 specs though!)

MarkUK

9:31 am on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Unless movement on a web page can be stopped by the user, then it contravenes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines:

[w3.org...]

txbakers

12:07 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



It's annoying as all h*ll to watch something blink at you.

That's why.

korkus2000

12:17 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



It is annoying but it was a both a support issue by browsers like the blink tag and its bothersome effect that made it hated. To me it is up there with transitions.

richardb

12:39 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Umm

Think it came as “standard” in Frontpage 97, fabulous trick, couldn’t use it on enough pages ;)

Rich

limbo

12:52 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



If marquee tag is used very cautiously can give nice results especilly on bulletin pages where new features are advertised. I think it's a shame that this has not been adopted into validated code. It can have attributes attached alot qicker than may of its Javascrpit counterparts and is a relatively small piece of code.

lukasz

12:58 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



txbakers - I think you are annoyed by <blink> tag, marquee tag just scrolls the text.
MarkUK - good argumant, however I don't see many sites which stick to this guidelines.
Annoyance really cannot be an argument as we all have different taste.
I am still waiting for some good arguments.

korkus2000

12:59 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



>>I am still waiting for some good arguments.

browser support in the past and in the future.

BlobFisk

1:26 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



>I am still waiting for some good arguments.

In addition to what korkus has said:

As has been mentioned, accessibility - it goes against the WAI standards. Just because many sites don't adhere, doesn't mean it's right. As my mother used to say to me "If everyone else was jumping off a bridge, do you have to jump too?".

Usability, studies have found that users dislike scrolling text as it is hard to read and distracts them from the main focus of the page.

txbakers

2:37 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I'm annoyed by blink as well as marquee.

My newspaper doesn't scroll, my magazine doesn't scroll, I hate the scrollers on CNN, and I don't want my web pages to scroll either. That's why I have scroll bars on the browser, and a wheel mouse.

I can scroll when I'm ready to.

And it's not supported.

rogerd

2:48 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member



But how do you REALLY feel about blink and marquee tags, txbakers? ;)

Receptional Andy

2:50 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)



>>Annoyance really cannot be an argument as we all have different taste.

If a significant proportion of your visitors get annoyed, then this is a good argument. Add me to the list of people annoyed by scrolling/flashing/blinking effects.

I think part of the reason for the annoyance factor is that it is quite unnecessary to use marquees etc. Let's tie them in a sack with NN4 and background music and throw them into a river :)

txbakers

6:38 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



But how do you REALLY feel about blink and marquee tags, txbakers? ;)

Well, since you asked......

I REALLY don't like them.

(Not to say that I didn't use them as well in my early days of web writing - when I thought they were cute)

nuts_spices

7:19 pm on May 28, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Fpr some they may be cute and sometimes very useful too..

For some they may be annoying..

and for some its dangerous I am not sure where but am certain that i read somewhere that Marques and Blink especially Blink .. when viewed by a mentally ill person causes seizers or sometimes they get agitated. This is may be true for some normal people too you never know.. As people can be afraid of heights so why not off blinking text..Just using my imagination thats all

nex2k

4:15 am on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I am still waiting for some good arguments.

"Waiting" is exactly what you do when faced with a MARQUEE tag. A marquee is supposedly used to scroll important headlines and updates, but if these headlines are so important, why make do we have to wait to read them?

As to the BLINK tag topic: Blinking text or images can cause seizures in anyone prone to them.

Chris_R

4:28 am on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Standards shmandards. Most major websites out there I bet violate all sorts of standards.

It is a little annoying - I just looked at a couple of examples and they weren't THAT bad - not anywhere near as bad as:

Sound - People that write webpages with sound should be arrested.
Blinking Text
Annoying Transition Thingies

I could see it working ok if done TASTEFULLY, but it really isn't necessary. Could be useful for stock market sites and a few others, but I doubt it. It doesn't seem to be very smooth and I would recommend against it.

Things that many webmasters find cool - users don't.

1milehgh80210

4:45 am on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I don't find marquee that annoying, it can draw the viewers eye to something you want him to notice..of course some won't be able to see it depending on browser.
Blink is more annoying.
The most annoying thing is waiting 30+ sec. for some crappy Flash-splash page to load, then wondering exactly what was worth the wait!
Yea, I still use dial-up at home :(

Hester

10:31 am on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



What do people think about Java scrollers like the news headlines on the BBC UK News [news.bbc.co.uk] site?

netguy

12:09 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



>I am still waiting for some good arguments.

Let's say that 25% of the online public doesn't like a marquee or blinking text (which is probably low), why would anyone want to alienate at least one-quarter of their online audience?

Most all of us have played with all the html toys and trinkets offered in the early days, but we left them behind (hopefully) for what is pleasing to the general public.

In my case, if I see a mickey mouse marquee, or hear disgusting organ music playing on a site - I immediately hit the BACK key and move on to a more professional site.

Hester

12:31 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I've grown to accept 'bad' sites thesedays - after all, it's the information that's important. Loads of sites use scrolling text so it would be foolish to ignore them altogether. As for background music, I surf 95% of the time with the sound OFF so it doesn't bother me. I only turn sound on when I realise a site uses it, for example on a pop video or streaming mp3.

You could always write a user stylesheet and make all <marquee> tags invisible.

Something like this?


marquee {display:none! important;}

SinclairUser

12:32 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



A marquee is about as useful as blinking black text on a black background. But I do love rotating gold 3D e-mail logos...

Apologies to the late Douglas Adams for the blinking black text stuff.

excell

12:43 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



When I hit a site that has a scrolling marquee or blink text I leave or if I really think it might has some information that I want to read I put my hand up over it so I cannot see it.

If I am there because I have to review the site then I am tempted to paste a piece of paper over it so it doesn't get in the way.

NEVER do I read it.

Hester

12:55 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Are you guys for real?! What if the information was very important?

I guess browsers should all come with a STOP and START button (and maybe PAUSE etc too) for any scrolling messages.

excell

1:23 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



very real here ;)

there is nothing worse for a busy person than to be delayed when they are seeking something. If it is important then put it clearly on the page.

SinclairUser

2:28 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



If we want to get REAL - why does moving text relate to important?

Newspapers carry important news headlines everyday and it doesn't scroll at all!

Hester

2:39 pm on May 29, 2003 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I guess the scrolling catches the eye. Also one line can contain about 3 news items. The news is "breaking news" so this method makes it stand out. I know when I visit the BBC news site, the scroller is the first thing I read. I would prefer it to be static but it's important enough to warrant waiting for.

Newspapers don't scroll because they can't. You can bet your bottom dollar that when electronic ink flatsheet displays come about, the headlines will scroll. :-)