The Question of animation

[Arlen P Walker <Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM>]

The usability/popularity of animated graphics is an interesting topic. I'm
not
a big fan of them myself, it's too easy to abuse them, but I have to say
that
the one time I succumbed to the urge as a designer the only viewer comment I
got was enthusiastic. (The graphic was one of those four-panel animations
showing highlights of the four major areas of the site. I'm pulling it, not
because of complaints, but because the idea no longer fits with the purpose
of
the page.)

I wonder if there's a correlation between the type of audience and the
usability of the animations? Or the garishness of the animation? Richard,
did
your testing cover the use of different color schemes in the animations? Was
there a significant amount of red (to use one example) in the animations?
Too
many people like to animate loud color schemes, as if movement somehow
compensates for all the shouting they're doing.

Some folks love them, others hate them (as witness Richard's story of the
person who covered of the graphic with her hand).  Richard, did your testing
gather some audience stats? (Aside from basic demographics, perhaps
ascertaining what level of computer skill the person has, and whether they
view
the web as being like a book, like a television or something else. Also
whether
the main task on the page was reading text or viewing a graphic. My instinct
suggests that when the page is mainly text, the animated gif will be a
problem,
but when the purpose of the page is graphical -- exploded parts diagrams
come
to mind immediately -- the animation might actually prove to be helpful and
even welcome.)

Among other things, this kind of information can help us determine whether
the
audience reaction to animated gifs is likely to change soon, as well as tell
us
when we should break the rule and use them. (All rules can and should be
broken, but only by talented folks who are aware of the rule and have a good
reason for breaking it.) It can also help us determine if this rule even
applies to our target audiences.

(There's another phenomenon at work in this as well, but I'm sure Richard is
at
least trying to control for it. Many times people react they way they think
they should while they're being watched. The classic example is a
time-motion
study done for, I think, Westinghouse in Pennsylvania. A good example from
today is trash TV. The audience numbers are high, but no one admits in
public
to watching. A political wag once pointed out that if all the people
sporting
bumper stickers saying "Don't blame me, I voted for McGovern" had in fact
voted
for McGovern, he would have won the election. Trying to control for this
effect
in studies of x where users have been told x is a Bad Idea can be tricky. )

The attitude toward gifs may be related to commercials on broadcast
television.
People have seen them so often in ad banners that they automatically class
them
as To Be Ignored. If so, as the web changes this attitude will also change.

I should note that as I write this, some brainiac on our intranet has
discovered the flying text capabilities of DHTML, and so now whenever I
bring
up the main page on the intranet I have to wait and watch as each individual
word in the Important News Bulletin flies in from off page. Oh joy.

Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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In God we trust; all others must provide data.
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Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=