The use of scrolling text in web pages is counterproductive — many users don’t notice it at all, and those that do are frustrated by it.
Why sites use scrolling text
There are three main reasons why website use scrolling text, also known as ‘marquees’:
- To save space — what would otherwise be a large block of text only takes one line
- To attract the visitor’s attention by the animation
- To make the page more lively
Why many users don’t notice scrolling text
On the internet, the most common use of animation is in advertising. Because of this, more experienced users have learned to ‘filter out’ animation — eye tracking studies have shown that they are no longer conciouslessly aware of many animated elements of web pages; this is called the ‘banner blindness’ effect. Thus the use of scrolling text to attract the user’s attention frequently has the opposite effect.
Why users are frustrated by scrolling text
Novice users, who have not yet learnt to ‘filter out’ animation, find scrolling text distracting when they are trying to concentrate on other parts of the page.
Scrolling text scrolls because it does not all fit on screen at one time. The speed of scrolling text is determined by the web page and not the user’s browser, so users have to wait for text to scroll into view before they can read it, and become impatient if it scrolls too slowly, and frustrated if it scrolls too quickly.
Further reading
For more information on the use of animation in web pages, and other usability issues, try Jakob Nielsen’s excellent book, Designing Web Usability:
- Designing Web Usability at Amazon.com
- Designing Web Usability at Amazon.co.uk (for British readers)