Will You Use Animation on Your Web Pages? Experiments of Animation's Effects and Implications for Web User Interface Design and Online Advertising

In this paper, we report an exploratory study that consists of two experiments investigating animation interference effect in the Web environment. Animation is “a dynamic visual statement, form and structure evolving through movement over time” (Baecker and Small, 1990). In this study, we limit animation to the kind that does not provide extra information for the user’s tasks. Thus, this type of animation is a non-primary stimulus because it carries non-primary information on a Web page. We use controlled experiments to evaluate the effect of animation under different conditions. We also collect data on subjects’ perceived interference and subjects’ attitude toward the use of animation during information-seeking tasks. The value of this study is twofold. First, it sheds light on the applicability of visual attention findings to the Web environment. The research enriches the value of the traditional visual attention studies by testing and applying them to a new environment, the Web. This empowers the general investigation of Human Information Interaction in the Web environment from a theoretical perspective. Empirical work is important but can also be endless. Theoretical work can guide the field of study. Second, it provides Web page designers with data that can replace speculation on the effects of animation as a non-primary information carrier on user performance. The study provides specific strategies and guidelines from both Web content providers’ and Internet advertisers’ perspectives. In the era of electronic commerce, studies on the real impact of online ads (most of them use animation nowadays) are timely and important. As many more people search for information on the Web, conduct business over the Internet, and encounter animation more frequently, research that investigates the real effects of animation becomes increasingly important