[Sigia-l] Ideal Refresh Rates

[Troy Winfrey]

Hello all,

I turn to the list to inquire if anyone has done any research or can direct
me to any research about ideal refresh rates for images on websites. Our
site uses a Flash "slideshow" across the top of the home page. Each image is
rectangular, about 25% of visible page size in height, and about 40% of the
page width wide. Relatively hard to miss, in other words :) There are six
potential images; one loads at random when a visitor loads the page, and
then they cycle through at an interval of about ten seconds apiece. Clicking
on an image, say our Movies About Baltimore, brings the user to a page
relevant to that item.

The Flash files are proprietary to the vendor (not my decision) and can't be
changed, although the images we load and the rate at which we display the
images can be. From an information design and HCI (visual) perspective, any
research on what that rate should be? We want people to have enough time to
decide to click, but also to maximize the precious real estate by displaying
a broad range of the loaded images. (Users can click on numbers at the
bottom to advance the slideshow. This is terrible interaction design for a
number of reasons--there are big Fitts' Law and mental-model issues, for
starters--but we can't fix that part. Yet.)

Any ACM articles or the like that anyone might want to recommend? Thanks!

Troy