3 Ways To Use Animation On Your Website

• 3 Ways To Use Animation On Your Website Step By Step
• 3 Ways To Use Animation On Your Website For Beginners

You can access the different object animation options by first clicking on the object you want to animate (step 1). Then click on the Animate button (step 2). As you can see below, there are three tabs: Build In, Action, Build Out (step 3). These 3 are the Keynote equivalent to PowerPoint's Entrance, Emphasis, and Exit effects. The animation of the website helps you to stand out from other websites. Small animation helps you to create some amazing website designs and effects on the website. These can help to draw the attention of the users to a certain element to display a piece of certain information that can turn out to be useful to the users.

Summary: Moving elements are a powerful tool to attract users' attention. When designing an animation consider its goal, its frequency of occurrence, and its mechanics.

3 Ways to Use Animation on Your Website From color changing buttons to looping video and GIFs, website animation is a design trend that can work for a wide range of websites and delight your visitors. It's most important to focus on enhancing the user experience. The worst thing you can do is to add animations that interrupt it. Designing the web animation is similar to designing a static web page – you need to justify your decisions and avoid writing too much code. So, wrapping this up – you don't animate a page just to make it fancier.

Thanks to the rise of HTML5 and CSS3 transforms and transitions, animations and movement are becoming increasingly commonplace in modern web design. At a recent web and mobile conference, several of the talks discussed visual design and development considerations for adding interactivity to UI elements. Unfortunately, the majority of conversations around this topic barely address the usability of such animations and what types of motion are most appropriate for different design goals.

Animations and interactivity on web pages usually have one of these user experience objectives:

• Draw attention to and explain changes on the page: Changes in the state of an element, revealing and hiding of content, or shifts to another area of content are all common areas for transitional animations.
• Add fun and whimsy: Elements that fade in, change color, or otherwise move are thought to delight users and to make a design 'pop'. Animations and sound effects are especially common on sites geared toward children and teens. (Such ploys often distract children; however, because young audiences are less goal-oriented than adults, these effects annoy them less and are better tolerated.)
• Appear modern and up to date with new design trends: Use of new technology and techniques in web design is not only an exciting exercise for developers, but presumably communicates an updated brand that is current and knowledgeable.

Before adding animations to a web page or application, ensure that their goal and purpose are well defined. When considering an animation, contemplate the following questions:

1. User attention: Where would the user's attention otherwise be focused at the time when the animation occurs?
2. Goal of the animation: Is it to:
   1. Attract users' attention: is the object to be animated something the user must notice and act on immediately?
   2. Show continuity in a transition between the states of an object?
   3. Indicate a relationship between objects that are already in the user's focus of attention?
3. Frequency of the animation: How often will one user encounter it during one session?
4. Mechanics of the animation: Is it:
   1. Directly caused by a user's action?
   2. Indirectly triggered (upon page load, while scrolling, or by some other unrelated activity)?

Only once these questions are answered can an appropriate animation be designed.

Users' Attention: Peripheral Motion Demands Attention

Movement in a person's peripheral vision triggers a stimulus-driven shift in visual attention and is an example of bottom–up processing. This is in contrast to a goal-directed shift (top–down processing), where a person voluntarily adjusts attention to an area of interest. The instinctual attention shift to motion is a remnant of the days when we needed to quickly notice a snake in the grass and other forms of looming danger or potential prey (you can decide into which category the snake belongs). (More about top­–down and bottom–up processing in our class on User Interface Principles that Every Designer Should Know.)

On a web page, the periphery generally includes any areas outside the F-shaped pattern of reading. Blinking images and video advertisements in the right rail are the most obvious examples of utilizing peripheral animation for business-oriented goals (with their overuse leading to banner blindness and right-rail blindness), but even well-meaning animations can prove to be distracting and annoying (Clippy, we're looking at you). Notifications appearing near the edges of the screen and promoting related content, recent activity, or the capability of live chat are all examples of peripheral animation that is intended to alert the user to relevant features or content, but in practice can be as interrupting and unwanted as a pop-up window.

How fast visual attention shifts toward a moving object in the periphery depends on the perceived animacy of the object. Factors such as the increasing speed of the object, the magnitude of its shift in position, and, most importantly, whether this motion appears to be self-propelled (rather than caused by an external collision of some sort) all influence the perception of animacy. In terms of interaction design, this means that elements that slide in or otherwise display a shift in position at any degree of speed will attract attention faster than elements that slowly fade into place.

If the goal were to quickly draw attention to the new object, then an animation sliding in from one direction would be very effective. On the other hand, if the goal were to provide access to a contextual feature without interrupting users from their primary task, then a more subtle animation with no position shift would be the better choice. (No animation at all would be the least distracting, and an even better choice if possible.)

Goal: Animation to Aid Comprehension and Understanding

Motion within a person's current point of focus does not trigger the same visual response as when it occurs in the periphery. Because we already have the user's attention, we no longer need to attract it and can focus on designing an animation that will increase the user's ability to understand the UI: how the element is related to other elements, changes in state for the particular element, and so on.

When used for the right reasons, animating an element on the screen can help convey how that element relates to other elements on the page and to any actions that the user has just taken. For example, if a form contains conditional logic, what the user enters in one field may lead to other dependent fields appearing immediately under that input field. (For instance, in many ecommerce checkout forms, if a user indicates different billing and shipping addresses, the fields for the second address are animated and appear underneath as a result of the user's action.) This animation reinforces the relationship between the triggering field and the dependent fields.

For an animation to effectively convey a cause-and-effect relationship between UI elements, the effect must begin within 0.1 seconds of the initial user action. This 0.1-second response time maintains the feeling of direct manipulation and supports the perception that the user action caused the new element to appear.

Frequency: Don't Get in the User's Way

Another important aspect to consider when designing an animation is the frequency with which it would likely occur within a single visit of a typical user. Animations that are repeatedly encountered are roadblocks to content and lengthen the amount of time to complete a task. Users do not want to wait and watch a lengthy animation sequence over and over again, especially when it has no purpose other than being 'fun' and showing off the coding capabilities of the developer. Remember: just because you can implement an animation, it doesn't mean that you should.

We can't even count the number of times we've sat in user testing and heard test participants utter some variant of the following: 'this [animation] was nice the first time, but now it's getting annoying.'

One example of an increasingly common gratuitous animation is the transition associated with revealing a hidden main menu. Hiding the global navigation is in itself bad, but forcing users to sit through an animation each time the main menu needs to be accessed is even worse. While the animation may be cute and visually appealing the first time, the second viewing is tiresome, and the third is downright annoying (and may never occur should the user become frustrated and abandon the site entirely).

For example, the website Newton Running buries its 4 navigational options behind the 3-line hamburger menu icon. Clicking the icon triggers an animation that shows the current page zooming out and transforming into a colored square, while other colored squares enter the screen and become the menu options. Once an option is selected, the animation is repeated in reverse and ends with zooming into the newly selected page. Of course there is no way to skip the animation once it has been triggered. Indicating dimensionality is a strongpoint of animations, but in this example the spatial relationship between the pages is meaningless, and the animation is a completely unnecessary roadblock, since the 4 menu options could easily be displayed as static links on the page.

Mechanics: Choosing an Appropriate Animation

If you are using an animation within a design, be sure to choose a speed appropriate to the context and the goal of the animation:

• Slower transitions are less likely to cause an attention shift and are thus less distracting. They are appropriate for animations indirectly triggered by the user or not user initiated in any way. In these situations, the new element should appear with little or no change in position to minimize distraction.
• Fast animations are more likely to attract attention when they happen outside the user's focus of attention. They are suitable for important elements that users must attend to and act upon.

Fast transitions also waste less of the users' time. They are appropriate when users trigger the animation directly and are already focused on the element. These types of transitions should not be jarring, however, nor displace any text that the user may still be reading. Although rare, there are times when the UI is too fast, and users cannot register the change to respond accordingly.

3 Ways To Use Animation On Your Website Step By Step

Animated UI: Proceed with Caution

Animated user interface elements are tempting and powerful tools, yet they can easily waste a precious currency: users' attention and time. Employ animations sparingly and only when they add meaning to the interaction. Think about whether the animation will cause an attention shift or not and whether the same user is likely to stumble over it again and again. Will the animation reinforce relationships between UI elements? Will users trigger it directly or not? All these aspects matter in the design of a successful animation.

3 Ways To Use Animation On Your Website For Beginners

References:

Pratt, J., Radulescu, P., Guo, R.M., & Abrams, R.A. (2010). It's Alive! Animate motion captures visual attention. Psychological Science, 21, 1724–1730. (Warning: link leads to a PDF file.)

Are you on the hunt for a free 2D animation software to create kickass cartoon videos? You've come to the right place! More than 1,000,000 people use Animaker. We have the perfect tool to make your dreams come true!

Here, we'll teach you to make a cartoon video from scratch:

STEP 1: Decide what type of animations you want

6 styles in Collaboration

Even inside the whiteboard tool, there are an additional 5 types of boards to choose from! This takes the ability to custimise to a whole new level!

All these 6 styles are also available in the vertical format. We all know that mobile is the future. With Animaker, you can future proof your videos!

In case you have starting trouble for your first project, you can always start with video templates!

40+ Templates to choose from

• Typography
• 2D Animation
• Video Infographics
• Vertical Video
• Handcrafts
• Whiteboard

• Business
• Health
• Education
• Food Travel Sports

STEP 2: Choose your cartoon characters and props

This step is going to be fun. But you are at the right place. You have the world's largest animation library to play with. Excited? Pick your choice:

Cartoon Characters

You can use 9 characters with each having over 50+ animation styles and 100+ expressions.

Here are the characters you can choose from:

This is just a preview though, in our premium versions you can gain access to up to 50+ characters with combined 2000+ animation styles.

Animated Props and Backgrounds

Mechanics: Choosing an Appropriate Animation

If you are using an animation within a design, be sure to choose a speed appropriate to the context and the goal of the animation:

• Slower transitions are less likely to cause an attention shift and are thus less distracting. They are appropriate for animations indirectly triggered by the user or not user initiated in any way. In these situations, the new element should appear with little or no change in position to minimize distraction.
• Fast animations are more likely to attract attention when they happen outside the user's focus of attention. They are suitable for important elements that users must attend to and act upon.

Fast transitions also waste less of the users' time. They are appropriate when users trigger the animation directly and are already focused on the element. These types of transitions should not be jarring, however, nor displace any text that the user may still be reading. Although rare, there are times when the UI is too fast, and users cannot register the change to respond accordingly.

3 Ways To Use Animation On Your Website Step By Step

Animated UI: Proceed with Caution

Animated user interface elements are tempting and powerful tools, yet they can easily waste a precious currency: users' attention and time. Employ animations sparingly and only when they add meaning to the interaction. Think about whether the animation will cause an attention shift or not and whether the same user is likely to stumble over it again and again. Will the animation reinforce relationships between UI elements? Will users trigger it directly or not? All these aspects matter in the design of a successful animation.

3 Ways To Use Animation On Your Website For Beginners

References:

Pratt, J., Radulescu, P., Guo, R.M., & Abrams, R.A. (2010). It's Alive! Animate motion captures visual attention. Psychological Science, 21, 1724–1730. (Warning: link leads to a PDF file.)

Are you on the hunt for a free 2D animation software to create kickass cartoon videos? You've come to the right place! More than 1,000,000 people use Animaker. We have the perfect tool to make your dreams come true!

Here, we'll teach you to make a cartoon video from scratch:

STEP 1: Decide what type of animations you want

6 styles in Collaboration

Even inside the whiteboard tool, there are an additional 5 types of boards to choose from! This takes the ability to custimise to a whole new level!

All these 6 styles are also available in the vertical format. We all know that mobile is the future. With Animaker, you can future proof your videos!

In case you have starting trouble for your first project, you can always start with video templates!

40+ Templates to choose from

• Typography
• 2D Animation
• Video Infographics
• Vertical Video
• Handcrafts
• Whiteboard

• Business
• Health
• Education
• Food Travel Sports

STEP 2: Choose your cartoon characters and props

This step is going to be fun. But you are at the right place. You have the world's largest animation library to play with. Excited? Pick your choice:

Cartoon Characters

You can use 9 characters with each having over 50+ animation styles and 100+ expressions.

Here are the characters you can choose from:

This is just a preview though, in our premium versions you can gain access to up to 50+ characters with combined 2000+ animation styles.

Animated Props and Backgrounds

We have 100+ props and backgrounds for you to choose from. If you want more, you can even upload your own for free!

In the premium version, you can unlock upto 300+ backgrounds and 2700+ props!

To make it professional, you might want to make the visuals just perfect. Use our in-built color picker so that you can pick colors from anywhere in the workspace and use it elsewhere. Sumatra: fate of yandicoming may 2019.

Maps and Charts

Curriculum frameworkseffective curriculum ideas. Are you making cartoon videos to show data? Convert your boring data into visual stories and inspire your audience in a way like never before! You can use many map charts to engage your audience. It's called Video Infographics.

Check out this video to get an idea of what all you can do with it:

Animated Numbers

Sometimes, in cartoon videos you might want to show the thermometer level increasing, or the cash flow going down. We have cool number animations to help you out with these!

Text Prebuilts

Don't have time to make sexy typography? Nothing to worry. We've more than 20+ text prebuilts which you can edit for your own use!

STEP 3: Animate your cartoons!

Alright, so the stage is set and the actors are ready! Now it's time for ACTION! Using features like Multimove, Bezier Curve and Record - you can literally do anything you want in your cartoon.

The best part is that they're all very easy to use!

Multimove

With Multimove, you can make the animated props and characters move in a streamlined motion. This is used mostly for walk cycles. By adjusting the timings, you can increase or decrease the speed of the movement.

Bezier Curve Tool

With the Curve tool, you can make your cartoon characters move in a curved path. This is useful for any rotary motion.

Record Tool

The Record tool comes handy when it comes to changing expressions. You can change expressions as much as you want!

Camera Effects

The camera effects can make your video really stand out. You can zoom into a character or zoom out whenever required. There is also the unique PAN mode feature which you won't find anywhere. Pan shots make your cartoon video more dramatic!

Transition Effects

A cartoon video is not just about the cartoon characters and the props. It is also important to have cool transition effects to make the video smooth and pleasing to the eye. Using our free cartoon maker, you have access to 20+ IN/OUT transition effects for characters and props. You also have an additional 6 effects for scene transitions!

Special Effects

These are effects that bring a whole new dimension to your video. From fire and tornado effects to abstract animations like paint splash.

STEP 4: Add audio to your cartoon video!

You are almost there, but not quite! Kickass audio is very important - in fact even more important than animations. Try watching horror movies without audio - it'll look like comedy!

Access our Sound Library

Hunting down copyright free audio can be a tedious task these days - especially if you are on a budget. Nothing to worry though! We already have a sizeable number of royalty free sound effects and background scores that'll be music to your ears!

Record or Upload Voiceover

We have an inbuilt voice recorder. That's right, no need to record separately and upload. You can record directly into the app!

Still not satisfied? Upload your own audio to give it a personal touch. There is no limit to the number of uploads you can do. Give wings to your imagination!

You can also create high quality voice overs on the go, with Animaker Voice - our very own advanced text-to-speech application.

STEP 5: Export your Cartoon Video!

Upload directly to Youtube or download

Using our free animation software, you can export videos directly to Youtube, hassle free! Imagine, if you are making cartoon videos just for Youtube, you will save tons of time here!

See it in Video Presentation

Want to present your video in front of an audience? Nothing to worry! Remote learningbe tech help. Just click the 'Slideshow' icon and voila: Your animated video is now a presentation deck!

You can always download it directly to your PC as well!

We have discussed the main features of Animaker's free 2D animation software. There are much more gems hidden within. Just fasten your seatbelts and hold on tight. This ride is going to be one that you won't forget!