Animation for the web

Animation is used widely across the web, the main technologies web designers use to create animations are:

• Animated GIFs
• Dynamic HTML
• Java and JavaScript
• Shockwave and Flash

Web designers use animation in their websites to bring it to life, to create more interactivity. Many share the opinion that static websites are boring. I don't share this opinion but I believe a website can be improved if animation is used sparingly and correctly.

Animation is especially useful for drawing a user's attention to something. This is primarily used in online advertising. However, if there is no purpose for an animation then it holds little value despite it making the website 'cute'. [1]

Animation can also be entertaining for a user and can show creativity. [1] Although, too much is bad. Too much animation can result in slow loading time, can be an annoyance and a distraction to the user from the website's content. [1] Text marquee's are especially frowned upon in web design.

I conclude that animations should always improve a website's appearance and serve a purpose, they should never distract or annoy a user. I myself am using a little animation in my website's logo and on mouseover in the navigation as I think its important to draw a user to my logo (advertising) and to the navigation (usability).


References

1. Ron Kurtus. (2008). Using Animation on a Web Page. Available: http://www.school-for-champions.com/web/animation.htm. Last accessed 14 March 2010.