Animation is normally seen as a very good quality, whether it be on a screen or in real life; all it’s connotations are positive. The days of wonderment and delight will soon be history though, that is, if people don’t start to realise that, like everything, you can have too much of a good thing.
When is too much? …
Story time…
I recently was revising for an upcoming driving theory examination. To revise I was issued with a piece of software containing various mock tests and the Highway Code. The only thing wrong with the entire application was the damn navigation. Every time I returned to the top-most level of a topic area it took about 5 seconds (yes, that is a long time) for the menu to animate on to the screen. The most useful menu-item happened to be at the bottom of the menu and so every single time I wanted to click it I had to wait 5 whole seconds after arriving on the page!
A couple of years ago I would’ve really appreciated a slowly cascading menu but nowadays it’s just incredibly annoying because I have to wait until the very end of an entire animation until I have full access.
You know what the real problem is? It’s some over-zealous programmer or designer who thought it would be cool to have something whizzing or popping on to the page. If it’s not them then it’s their managers or perhaps it was the bloody client!
And that’s not the only time the obvious over-zealousness of a “professional” has pissed me off: To aid me further in my driving theory preparation I decided to purchase (and not cheaply, I might add) an application for my iPod Touch which also contained mock tests and the Highway Code. After testing it out for the first time I was quite satisfied. But again, because of some crappy developer, the software frequently screwed up on itself because of an intentional feature. The hotshot app developer thought it would be cool to add a ‘shake’ feature so when a user reaches a question in one of the mock tests they have the option to skip it by shaking the device.
I had previously read about this feature in the iTunes store; I thought nothing of it at the time. It was only when sitting in the back of a car, being driven at a regular speed, trying out a mock test that the app suddenly skipped three questions in a row. The app offers no way to go back a question so that really sucked! I mean come on! What the **** is the point in adding a ‘shake’ feature? It’s one of those, “I’ll add this feature to show how cool a developer I am” – normally I’m actually okay when people show off, but when it effects the usability or usefulness of a product it’s simply not acceptable!
Now, what does that last story have to do with animation? Well, that idiot developer thought it would be cool and obviously didn’t think much past that. It would be nice if people would consider coolness as a lesser priority than something like usability.
So…
When you’re thinking of adding any animation to anything on a website, even if you’ve been ordered to do so by a boss or client, always think about usability…. always, always, always think about the user! Nobody is going to be impressed if your steaming animation impedes process! Don’t impede or delay the process of an application or website, ever!
By “process”, I mean the normal and anticipated manner through which a user may interact with your application or website.
Oh, also, I really really hate Flash! If you’re still using flash to develop websites then the only acceptable excuse is that you’ve been in a coma for about three years! FLASH SUCKS! I don’t give a damn about “immersive experiences” when I’m surfing the web, all I want is my damn information!
JavaScript; jQuery, MooTools etc.
Evident from my above ramblings, the line between ‘quite pleasant’ and ‘inconceivably annoying’ is very thin! Don’t go crossing it with a JavaScript framework! – That’s not what they were made for!
I am also at fault; I have also succumbed to the idiocy of the collective. But I have learnt my lesson and have vowed to myself that I will never [consciously] do it again.
Lesson learnt: Don’t jump on the bandwagon just cos’ it’s shiny and faster than the other ones!
Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts with me on Twitter. Have a great day!
Very well said, all that glitters is not gold. just bcoz its animation or nice easing effect does not mean its good. its only good if u use it at the right place for the right purpose.
Eg. the links at the right sidebar on ur site when they slide onhover i don’t like that effect. Reason: its a very small shift of position and hence its jerky (if it wud have been a shift of around 100px, i wudnt have noticed those jerks), all the js frameworks are still not that good in animation, just b’coz they were never meant to do that. You take any easing algorithm by Robert Penner’s.
But the best part of ur site is, that it does not hinder my usability, it moves or not moves or it moves whichever way, I am still able to click on it very easily.
Less is certainly more with animation – it’s best when you almost don’t notice it.
Users are an impatient lot, and having to wait for a number of seconds to be able to access some information can be infuriating. At best, the transition will be appealing on the first or second viewing, but it will always plumit to the depths of anger.
I imagine that if Flash was made by Apple, you’d have had about 100 comments on here by now. You’re entitled to you opinion, and I’m not keen on Flash either, but it’s not totally inappropriate all the time. Again, it’s how it is used. For certain types of site, it’s the best solution, and let’s not forget about Flash Video 😉
Good thoughts and observations. I agree with you fully. I am miffed by people who fill websites with lots of pretty pictures and animations and dynamic effects when 99% of the time I am there looking for content. If I want pictures or glitz, I go to Flickr, YouTube or put a DVD in the telly.
Love this quote:
“I don’t give a damn about ‘immersive experiences’ when I’m surfing the web, all I want is my damn information!”
~j
Thanks for the comments 🙂
I guess I shouldn’t have been that harsh on Flash, it’s not all bad. What really annoys me is how some people insist on making entire websites in Flash; I’m sorry, but it’s simply a bad practice. Not only are Flash websites largely inaccessible but the navigation and other functional features are normally implemented in random and unconventional ways. For example, having to click on objects on a ‘virtual’ desk to navigate around a site – it may be pretty but it’s not usable at all!
Great post, James! And I agree completely that animation is something best left minimal. I’ve always felt that if you can use it to enhance your site, then do it, but it should almost be subconscious to the user. For instance, a quick fade out and fade in when changing tabs or images, the key word there being quick.
As for Flash, I agree with Shane that many of the places using it today are inappropriate, and look like the developer is just trying to be cool. But it can definitely have its place, such as movie sites, or for games.
Hi James,
Just to enter the ‘Flash is bad’ debate, I actually think it does and will always have a place.
I work for a large integrated marketing agency, and we have a variety of projects rangin from long term corporate websites, to short term promotional websites. I am a HTML/CSS guy and although dabble in Flash its not really my thing.
I would say for the short term sites which need a definite wow factor, then Flash is definitley going to be your best option. These sites users will likely visit mostly once or twice, and it needs to wow them for them to pass onto their friends, and hence a campaign spreads. A campaign such as this is meassures on how many people see it and talk about it, not really how many people come back to it. The sites on thefwa.com are those kinds of sites. However a lot of those sites have bad usability of the kind you mentioned, but if the same principles you use in HTML sites for navigation etc, then you have a Flash site which still wows and is usable. If there are accessibility concerns generally we go for an accessible HTML version with just the information bits extracted from the experience, but in reality clients dont care about this for short term promotions. The sites are only up for a few months
Obviously all other sites we use standards complient HTML/CSS and use JQuery effects where necessary and appropriate, I am certainly with you on that one.
So dont dismiss Flash so easily, it still has its place and I am afraid it is here to stay, as much as us HTML/CSS/JS guys hate it. Most Flash site developers come from a design/animation background, and it is just an education process to make sure that they still retain good usability principles. I am sure there will be continued steps in the accessibility area too.
I have to disagree that “Flash is Bad”. I think Flash is actually really good… That doesn’t mean that it can’t be abused of course. In fact, I’d probably agree that it’s easier for someone to develop a bad flash website than a bad HTML website. Although I’ve seen some terrible HTML websites and some bad JS usage which brings all of the lack of navigability and bookmarkability that you associate with flash.
If a developer is any good and can be bothered it’s pretty easy to add back button and SEO ability to a flash site (google swfaddress to see how)…
Anyway, a challange… I’ll take back my opinion if you can show me something like this built without flash:
http://www.hobnox.com/index.1056.en.html
In fact – play back a streaming video in a reliable cross platform cross browser manner without Flash and I’ll be impressed with just that!
Flash doesn’t hurt people – programmers do.