Animation is a powerful medium for illustrating concepts (e.g. a chemical structure changing), exploration of an environment (e.g. an architectural design), or interface transitions (e.g. left or right hand page turning for an on-screen book). Animation is also a good way to encourage interest among young users in a learning or educational program. However animation can be very distracting if presented continuously alongside a section of text that the user wishes to read. It can also be annoying if the animation produces text scrolling across the screen but does not give the user time to read it. It should be recognised that animation sequences take time to produce, and so adequate time should be allowed to create them.

Guidelines

1. An animation sequence should be short, i.e. 20 to 30 seconds at most. Animation or animated events can be enhanced by including sound to establish continuity or a verbal commentary or additional information supporting information.
2. It should be recognised that animation sequences take time to produce, and so adequate time and resources should be allowed to create them.
3. The actual position within the video or animation sequence, and the total length of the sequence, should be shown on a time scale.
4. An animation should be provided with appropriate user controls. Important controls to provide are: play, pause (freeze), replay from start and cancel. It may be useful to provide drag selection of the video allowing the user to move to any part they wish and play from there.
5. If the animation or video is split into distinctive stages, provide controls to jump to the next stage, and to return to the previous stage.
6. Animation or video controls should be designed to be familiar and so may be based on a video recorder (VCR) control panel, as these symbols are familiar to many people.

Copyright EMMUS 1999.
Last updated: September 27, 1999.