We've all gone to web sites and noticed the bright blinking animated ads on the page. They are certainly attention grabbers -- and they should be -- they are ads, after all. But what about when you go to a site looking for information and you can't ignore that moving graphic?

Movement and animation may add value for some purposes. But mostly they are frivolous and unnecessary and hamper the usability of the page. The additional graphics may also slow down the load time of your page. Animation should be avoided when it does not add specific value.

Web usability guru, Jacob Neilsen's rule of thumb is "If you are thinking about adding an animation, think first about just putting it in as a still picture. If that works well, then don't animate." Users come to your page to find information and solve problems. They use the links on your page to find their way and often ignore graphics.

Nielsen warns against adding animations simply for the sake of doing so. He notes that users find it quite disruptive to have graphics constantly moving on the page. Movement can make it harder for people to concentrate on the rest of the page.