Monday, July 30, 2012

The Modern Web is Making Me Sick

Anyone with a modern web browser who has been poking around some of the new CSS3 websites has probably encountered jparallax and the nausea inducing navigation leveraging within-page transition. Stuff is moving all over my browser now and I am not sure why - just because...

I can't remember what version of Microsoft PowerPoint introduced the transition, but I do remember that once folks found these in their file menu, it seemed every single one was being used within a single presentation to spice things up. I thought those days were over and common sense had won out. I was wrong. In an effort to showcase "talent," designers are leveraging these interactions with seemingly no design purpose. When is the last time you saw a professional video use a checkerboard wipe? Maybe in the 80s or NEVER! This transition is included in most video editing packages, but editors know not to use it unless they are are covering a chess tournament.

So now everything is moving all the place and to make things worse since all the content is on one page, load times are through the roof. Hello loading status bar. I've yet to meet a status bar that I liked because it means I am waiting. And what is the payoff? Vertigo! Thanks W3C. Some of these sites are really well graphically composed as my examples below will show, but it is apparent that the developers missed that motion graphics class in art school. All that I ask is that if you are going to use these new effects, use them with a purpose. Think of the entire design and understand that some of the older cerebellums out there can't handle all this motion.

Here are some bad uses:
http://www.lab4motion.com/
http://www.liquidconception.co.za/

Here are some "good" uses:
http://baumhaushotel.ideenfrische.de/ 
http://www.landeenjob.be/
At least it makes sense why things are moving and making me sick.