Animation On Our Sites

Tronia

What do you mean? I don't really understand your question. Do you mean where on your site you can use animations? If so, anywhere you want? You can animate buttons, your text, headers and more. The most common is probably putting animation in the videos to enhance them and to make them more engaging/attractive for the viewers. We all know that videos are even beating pictures in terms of the response from the visitors so I guess that would be the most optimal way of using animations.

But overall, only your mind is the limit. You can create and code animations into anything you want.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

Tronia,
I can totally see how I was way too vague here. If I post another forum down the line, and will make sure from now on that I am much more clear and will explain in length exactly what my concern is!

7 years ago

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Kakashi2020

In my opinion animation in a Blogsite will affect the load time and thus affects the optimization of the site, longer load time means lesser traffic, unless you have a lot of loyal followers, I wouldn't advise animation in a blog site.

7 years ago

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galegatling

I don't really understand what you are trying to say here. Could you be more specific? Could you also elaborate the details as what you are meaning to say? What sort of animation are you talking about? Is that an effect on a blog or website like a theme? Or is it a video or something?

EDIT: As what Tronia said, your questions are very vague thus requiring more details.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

galegatling,
Obviously, I really need to get better at writing forum prompts. I am trying to make them as straight and to the point as possible, because I can be so verbose, but I totally see how I need to be more clear, so thanks for pointing that out along with Tronia.

I know that I can place various animations on my blog, but I guess what I am really asking, to be specific, is if you have any ideas about how I could really grab attention and hold traffic on my blogs, which are pretty plain and straightforward, with animations. I am trying to decide if I want to keep some animations permanent there--obviously I can insert some in the blog content along with my writing, but what I am trying to ask is what is too much? What is not enough? Would animations overwhelm the page? Does that (hopefully) make more sense? In other words, what kind of balance would you, as an audience, look for on a blog between content (writing) and the animations? I just don't want the animations stealing the show, if that makes sense...

7 years ago

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Soulwatcher

I am on the fence with animation. I know that today's animation is a lot better than the late 1990's early 2000's animation. Have said all of that I feel like animation had its day and doesn't belong on a modern website. I think videos are a far better way to express your thoughts and ideas to your readers/members.

7 years ago

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Barida

Videos have really taken over for that is the way that both the members and the owners of a site try to communicate instead of using animations. I think there should be reinvention of the usage of animations.

7 years ago

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ballyhara

Usually the use of videos will do the job. Honestly, not a fan of sites with thousands of things jumping and flying all over the screen, seems very distracting to me. But that's just my point of view. Anyway, a simple video that explains your goal, detail the purpose of your site, will do the job fairly enough.

7 years ago

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mildredtabitha

I think animations on videos work really well.

You can also use animations on your blog posts if you have placed them as slideshow. This will make it attractive especially when readers move from one post to another.

Personally, I don't like sites with animations because they consume a lot of data especially when I access the site using the phone.

7 years ago

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treecko142

Yeah, and animations actually require skill and a lot of time to create on the part of the site owner, while you can easily make a video of yourself to express the same message. While animations will undoubtedly look better, it's much easier to just stick to regular videos.

7 years ago

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TheArticulate

If you haven't already checked them out, I think cinemagraphs are a really cool tool to use on websites and blogs. Basically, a cinemagraph is a photo that has one moving element to it, which gives the whole thing a very unique and surreal feel. To see what I mean, check out this article on Hongkiat which has a ton of good examples. Butch Locsin, one of my favorite performance artists on Instagram, also uses this technique on some of his posts. I haven't tried making a cinemagraph yet, but from the tutorials I've watched, they're not that difficult to make at all.

It's a very subtle animation and I think adds quite a bit to your still photographs. Definitely worth looking into in my opinion!

7 years ago

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Authord

It really depends onmany factors. Think about what the animation is bringing to the
table. Treat animation just like any other design
decision. What is its purpose? What is its use? Why does
this thing exist?If you should use a specific animation, consider thefollowing:

Does the animation hinder or reduce the usability of thewebsite or app?
Will the animation require extra resources (i.e. extracode/images) that will increase the load time, thereby harming the
user experience?
Does the animation improve the user experience of the site in afunctional or delightful way?

As long as you use animations in a useful way, and the coderequired to create the animations is lean and efficient, you
generally should have no problem integrating interesting animation
into your website or app designs.

7 years ago

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DarthHazard

The things that you listed here are extremely important to consider. It's nice and amazing to have animations on your website but if it hinders the user's experience then it may not be worth it. There is no point having all these fancy animations and videos on your site if your user cannot enjoy it because the loading time of the website has increased. So make sure to take these factors into consideration if you are looking to incorporate them into your site.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

Authord,
Thanks for this--this really is addressing a lot of my concerns in trying to find a balance in my content. I am trying to showcase my writing but also generate more traffic to the site and make it more attractive or exciting. Just like a site can overwhelm with too many ads and bells and whistles and pop-ups, I want to use animations but not over-use them, so I guess I am just struggling with my own personal style and design issues here.

7 years ago

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Martinsx1

Animation are good to be used on sites but it's very important to find out if using animation would be of a positive effect on the site or would it negatively affect the site. Remember, not everything that is good means it would have a good impact in anything it's used on.

7 years ago

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ballyhara

That's my opinion too. Sometimes, I do research on forums and blogs that suddenly are updated, and it turns out now it's full on animated effects. In my case, that can be very confusing because it cause distraction, doesn't let me focus on my job. So, a certain animation, with a main target, that improve the way to use your site, that's perfect. But, a lot of it definitively is not my choice.

7 years ago

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Painterly

I've said this before on this site, but it bears repeating: Animation should enhance the content, and never, ever, hinder my access to it. With few exceptions, it is important to understand that I didn't come to your site to see a pretty splash page or wait for some animation to load. I came for a reason and the visual design of the site should never stand in between that reason and my access to it.

7 years ago

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Martinsx1

I completely agree with you on this. In as much as using animation on sites is good, they should never be used in a way that it would be an obstruction to members visiting and using the site for one reason or another. Animation should never hamper the navigation system of any site it's used on while it adds beauty to the site.

6 years ago

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DarthHazard

Like the others, I am a bit confused as to what you mean by animation. It would be helpful next time if you try to add as much detail to your questions so that we can answer and help you out quickly. I'm just going to assume that you mean video animations for my answer. You could have use video animations to have on the landing page of your website. It could act as some sort of an introduction and would be great for users to watch to understand what your website is about and what they can do at your website.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

DarthHazard,
I totally apologize for being vague here, and it has been pointed out to me by several responders at this forum, so, I will definitely try to be clear the next time I come up with a forum topic. I think what I needed to hear was in your first response regarding not just using things gratuitously to try to generate or keep more traffic. Your quote, "I came for a reason and the visual design of the site should never stand in between that reason and my access to it" really rang true to me. So, even though I wrote a crap prompt, you still gave me great advice. Thanks.

7 years ago

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Baburra

These days, I think elaborate animations are a little old fashioned. The most I see on sites nowadays is just having a slideshow as the main header picture so as the picture at least rotates and doesn't get too boring. That would be my advice, as I have gone to a few blogs that have elaborate animations wherein each page I click did a lot of impressive animation but in the end it just made me tired of clicking and made me leave the site earlier than I would have. In my opinion, simpler is better.

7 years ago

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DenisP

The best suggestion I could probably make, off the top of my head, is that a little goes a long way. A lot of people can be tempted to throw in a ton of animations just to make things look flashy (haha, get it? Because you make animations in Adobe...Flash. Never mind) and the excess animations actually end up being a burden in terms of navigation. Use animation as a means of making the user interface more accessible and easier to navigate as opposed to just trying to make things look complex as possible. As it goes with extremely spicy hot sauce, a dab'll do ya.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

Luckily, my personality, in general, is quite minimalist, and I appreciate how the little can go a long way by creating space for an audience to really interact with a medium--this space, no matter the medium in question, lets the observer move into the work and experience it through his or her own imagination instead of just being led through everything so aggressively. I would choose efficient over flashy any day. And I really liked your hot sauce metaphor, lol.

7 years ago

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Baburra

I think these days, minimalist designs are much more favored and common. Back then when this technology was still fairly new, animated graphics were much more of a novelty but I think in modern day they aren't as impressive anymore so people have pretty much gotten over them. It's for the better in my opinion because they really don't look all that good anyway, in my opinion.

7 years ago

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JoeMilford

I am not sure why I have always preferred minimalist designs, but I am a pretty stripped-down and Spartan person in almost everything that i do, and I have just always been wired that way. When technology is new, I think people do have the tendency to overdo it a bit and to dive in and over-indulge; however, after a while, we all come to our senses and step it back a bit. I think you and I share the same opinion. Overkill is not necessarily what is always pleasing to the eye, and having a discerning eye, I think, portrays a more mature and professional approach to giving on'es audience what they prefer.

7 years ago

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Judas2018

Animations imo should be used in banners or logo's. They give your site more of an interactive and attention-grabbing feel.

7 years ago

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PixelClerks

Animation On Our Sites