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Are Large Graphics and Animation Ever a Good Web Design Idea?
Read any decent article, pamphlet, or book about good web design, and you will quickly learn that one of the key principles of good web design is to remove large graphics and animation. The reason is simple: both slow download speed and push your visitors to buy from someone else. If you have done your research and have surfed the Internet, you may quickly realize that many web sites – including professional sites and sites with great rankings – do sometimes use Flash intros and large graphics. That’s confusing. You may ask: Why do some good sites use these design elements that are supposedly so bad? Excellent question. The answer is that most people misuse Flash, animation, and large graphics. When in doubt, it is easier to leave these elements out than to let them annoy your visitors from your site. There are times, though, when these design elements are a good idea:
1) You are selling a product that someone might want to look at before buying. Let’s say that you are selling jewelry online. Most people want to look at this item closely in a store, because jewelry has lots of small details. Large graphics can be a boon here IF you use thumbnails and give the customer the option of looking at the pictures. In this situation, include a small graphic next to your description of each jewelry item. Make each picture a thumbnail that links to a much larger image. Yes, it will take a while to load but customers who want to see every tiny detail of the picture can click on the thumbnail and see what they want to see. Those who have no interest will not click on the link and will not be annoyed by the slower-loading graphic.
2) You are offering demonstrations of a product online or want to allow people to see your product in action. Animation here is a legitimate design idea, but again, it must be handled carefully. Give your viewers the option of opening an animation or video – or not. Consider YouTube: when you head to that popular site, you don’t have to view every video ever made. You have a choice of what to watch, so you do not mind the download times. Give your website viewers the same respect. Also, avoid animated GIFs. They never look professional. Pay for a well-developed Flash animation or a video if you must have one.
3) Your company offers a very visual or multimedia service. If you are offering computer animation or video editing, your customers will want to see an example of your handiwork. Give your viewers the option of viewing this or not by embedding your samples on a separate page. Do not force your viewers to watch your samples on your homepage. |
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