Forum Moderators: open
There is a debate going on about what is on our website relating to moving objects.
Here is what we have:
1.) Date and Time changes evey second
2.) Scrolling text in lower right Column
3.) Scrolling Text at the middle bottom of the page
4.) Anitmated "Free Shipping" in upper right column
5.) Anitmated Dog in lower right column
Are there too many moving objects on our website?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
<Sorry, no personal URLs. See TOS [webmasterworld.com]>
[edited by: tedster at 6:13 pm (utc) on Aug. 4, 2004]
I think you'll find that most people here will say ANY movement on the page is too much movement. Especially scrolling text.
Date and Time changes evey second
Let's just take this one example. The overwhelming majority of modern operating system interfaces, be it Windows, Linux, Mac, all display a clock in one corner of the screen. If by some chance a user had removed the clock or was using an obscure window manager which did not display a clock, why would that person visit your site in particular in order to know what time it is?
It's much the same for the other elements you have listed. What are they adding to your page other than clutter? Flashing elements are almost always distractions and they actually get in the way of people using your site - reducing sales, repeat visits, and lowering the perception of quality and authority you should be looking to convey on a professional site.
Some individuals with photosensitive epilepsy can have a seizure triggered by displays that flicker, flash, or blink, particularly if the flash has a high intensity and is within certain frequency ranges. (The Access Board, 2000)
I agree that you should cut down on the animation (unless the animated dog is peeing on the scrolling text - sorry couldn't resist :)
If your site is specifically a "ticker" type site, then the scrolling text might be okay.
Also, it is pretty hard to generalize. If you have a shopping site, and you are scrolling through hot items or recent purchases, it might be okay. The scroll-rate will be a big factor.
But I would still take the generalized advice of not scrolling. For your top-selling items for instance, you don't really need to show 100. You could show a static list of the top 10 with a "more..." link.
I don't mind "tasteful" animation as long as I can't see more than one instance of it at any given time on one page. I define tasteful animation as being an animated gif or ticker tape, preferably giving at least three seconds between "frames". Basically, if I can still read the page comfortably, I don't mind animation. I start to get annoyed if the animation is such that I can't concentrate on the content; then a simple right-click in my trusty Mozilla FireFox and the "Nuke Anything" extension does the rest! ;)
That said, I don't really mind a single moving or blinking object at the very top of the page, because I can scroll down to hide it from view. ;)
But any moving object that I can't hide from view is annoying. Moving objects at the top, middle, bottom, left, and right of the screen would cause me to hit the close button right quick.
Sometimes all those blinking scrolling twirling flashing things feel like they're going to cause an onset of epilepsy.
