How Much Is Too Much?
Posted on January 1, 2010
My favorite place to buy clothes has a habit of sending 6 e-mails out every week. Frankly, I think this is excessive, and have unsubscribed from their mailing list because of it. There are quite a few companies that have this annoying habit. While there are others that rarely send e-mails.
There are frequently discussions on the internet about how much is too much or too little. I think a company’s biggest concern should be not annoying their customers.
What do you think? What does it take before you get annoyed enough with a company to unsubscribe? Several times a week? Once a week?
Do You Like Motion on a Web Site?
Posted on July 3, 2009
Some web sites have a lot of motion on their sites. It might be blinking things or Flash or just motion. I imagine some people like it. A while back I had a conversation with other developers, expressing a concern about it bothering some people.
The reply I got was that they knew that it could cause seizures in people with epilepsy. Which, to me, should be cause for a bit of concern. But it goes further than that. I have a friend with Multiple Sclerosis. She said that such motion can actually impact her MS, causing spasms. And then there are people like myself. I get migraines, and such motion on a web site can trigger a migraine for me.
So, should you use it? It’s up to you. I ran the numbers: Roughly 2 million Americans have epilepsy and another 400,000 have MS. There are 28 million Americans diagnosed with Migraines and another estimated 14 million have undiagnosed Migraines. There are (roughly) 300 million people in this country.
So, somewhere between 10 and 17 % of the population could be physically bothered by all that motion on your site. Is that a number you can live with? I’m not asking you to consider the health effects, but more to the point is the fact that they are likely to leave your site and see the information elsewhere. Can you afford that?
Lastly, my husband is quick to point out that many people, including him, are just plain annoyed by all that motion while they’re trying to read.
What are your thoughts on using Flash and other moving images on a web site?
