Brian is probably right but there is a nice eLib example of animation on
CINE's home page at kcl. I like this example because it emphasises what
they're trying to achieve with cartoon type approaches. Of course the use
of such techniques can be overdone but such problems have been part of HCI
considerations for a long time. Interface design and information
presentation will always cause us problems but we shouldn't shy away from
trying out new techniques.
Andy Jordan
PS I guess Chris' disk thrashing is down to the image being reloaded from
the cache.
----------
> From: lis-elib-request
> To: lis-elib
> Subject: Re: Animated gifs
> Date: 31 July 1996 13:58
>
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> Message-Id: <[log in to unmask]>
> From: Brian Kelly <[log in to unmask]>
> Organization: Netskills,University of Newcastle
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 13:58:36 +0000
> Subject: Re: Animated gifs
> Priority: normal
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> > From: Mr C A Rusbridge <[log in to unmask]>
> > Subject: Re: Animated gifs
> > To: [log in to unmask] (eLib list)
> > Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 13:36:00 +0100 (BST)
> > Reply-to: Mr C A Rusbridge <[log in to unmask]>
>
> > A message from Rachel Heery of UKOLN on another thread mentions the URL
> > for DESIRE:
> >
> > > DESIRE:http://www.surfnet.nl/surfnet/projects/desire/
> >
> > I have looked at this web page, and their logo is (I think) an animated
> > gif (http://www.surfnet.nl/surfnet/projects/desire/desirelogo.gif). This
> > thing has been set to loop back, re-loading itself when it reaches the
> > end of an animated sequence. I presume it's not re-loading a network
copy
> > each time, but the damn thing is still at it, thrashing my hard disk in
> > the background even as I write this.
> >
> > Am I alone in finding this an objectionable, even un-acceptable bit of
> > web practice?
> > Chris Rusbridge
>
> I think it may be regarding as undesirable on the grounds of:
>
> 1 wasting network resources
> 2 wasting your local computing resources
> 3 ergonomics
> 4 being proprietary
>
> The use of an animated GIF to provide animation does not waste
> significant network resources. It is true that it makes use of swap
> space on your hard disk - if you press the STop button it will stop
> the animation. Animating GIFs are part of the GIF specification.
> They were first implemented by Netscape, but now other browsers also
> support them. My criticism of anim,ated GIFs is point 3, erginmics.
> Jacob Neilson (?) a Sun user interface design, author of Sun's home
> page and the prize-winning tutors at the WWW 96 conference is very
> much against animation on Web pages because it can be so distracting.
> If you are trying to read text on a page your eye is continually
> being drawn towards the animation, which slows down your reading
> speed.
>
> I would regard it as undesirable, but not un-acceptable, in many
> cases, although it may be fine if the page is intended as a user
> interface rather than providig information.
>
> Brian
> --------------------------------------------------
> Brian Kelly
> Netskills - see http://www.netskills.ac.uk/
> Computing Service
> University of Newcastle
> Newcastle-upon-Tyne [log in to unmask]
> NE1 7RU 0191 222 5002
>
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