Roger's Blog

I was recently doing a training session for a client and we were going through various teacher pages for their school. I was quite stunned - not surprised - at the level of distracting elements that were used throughout the pages. When I asked them about the over-abundance of animated gifs on the pages, I got this answer:

"But I think they are cute!"

So let's talk about the purpose of your webpages

First, it isn't to be "cute". At least not it's primary purpose. The purpose of your webpage is to communicate information.

Second, it needs to be quick to scan because parents don't want, nor need, to hunt for the key information on your pages. So the second purpose is to provide fast access to key information.

So why use all the distractions on your pages

There really is no good reason. Let me put to you in a way that may be more meaningful to you (if you are a teacher).

Imagine yourself teaching your lesson. You are standing up in front of your class, you have your lesson laid out perfectly, your overhead slides are perfect, your examples are beautiful. Your students should be able to learn the lesson easily. Except for the fact that you allowed two students to wear clown makeup and do jumping jacks and dance on either side of you. They don't speak, just move constantly during your lesson.

Do you think your students will be focusing on your material or the clowns?

That's what happens with animated gifs - they cause the eye to continually focus on the movement. If they are focusing on your bouncing bugs, running dogs, and flickering images, they aren't focusing on your content - your message - the most important thing about your webpage.

So there, remove the animated gifs and gadgets from your webpages and your visitors will thank you.

Next, let's talk about those backgrounds that you think are so pretty.....