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0 pointssaurik3y ago0 comments

I think the point of the comment you are responding to was that: no, in fact, the transitions you are talking about would be better off not existing. Like, I watch that video of the UI with all the pieces of that "app" sliding around and I'm thinking "omfg that's annoying and disorienting and will get old extremely quickly".

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4 comments · 2 top-level

kaba03y ago· 1 in thread

There is no point in talking about these things in absolutes. Sure, animations can and often times are overdone, but done well they are extremely useful and gives you just the right context on what happens/happened. We are visual creatures who build up a mental model not based on static images, but dynamic interactions. That hover, or overscroll animation gives you essential additional information.

z3c03y ago

Agreed. The best animations "mean something". As in, if a page swipes left in a transition, it should be to indicate to the user that they're moving forward in a workflow, and the reverse, backwards. Up/down imply the same, but within the same step. If you're in the Western world[*], this can feel very intuitive.

I'm the static HTML type, but one can really smooth out their UX with animations and transitions.

[*] where reading is typically left-to-right

mike_d3y ago· 1 in thread

Yeah, and I think that is an incorrect view based on a limited perspective of elements where the user is directly interacting.

What I was talking about using the feature for is passive content. Watch any TV news broadcast, popular Twitch stream, etc. and you'll see that elements or scenes transitioning smoothly is the polish of a good production. A news ticker doesn't just appear, it has a 1 second fade in. The logo isn't always on the screen, it slides in and out periodically from the right.

silvestrov3y ago

The problem is that people overdo the transitions when they add them (i.e. make them too long).

This "overdoing" always happends when something new is introduced.

When Windows became able to use multiple fonts in the 90'ies, people used as many fonts as possible on a single sheet of paper. It looked really bad. Over time we got back to use 1 or 2 fonts on a page.

When web got animated GIFs, every page had an animated "work in progress".

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