[Sigia-l] Ideal Refresh Rates

[Christopher Fahey]

Troy wrote:
> Our site uses a Flash "slideshow" across the top of the 
> home page... 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...
> From an information design and HCI (visual) perspective, 
> any research on what that rate should be? 

The answer is somewhere between "so frequently that it's annoying" and
"so infrequently that you're likely to leave the page before seeing
another slide".

This duration is totally dependent on your content: Do the images have
words in them that require reading? Are they single iconic images (a
tiger's face) or complex images with deeper emotional resonance (the
faces of a dejected basketball team sitting on a bench)? Are the slides
similar to each other, or very different in content and target audience?
Is it important to an overall desired marketing impression that users
see *all* of the slides (for example, the slides show your company's
four core services)?

In other words, "it depends."

No research in the world will help you make this decision. This is a
perfect example of the kind of gut call that somebody has to just go out
on a limb and make (and be ready to defend) without having research to
back up their decision.

-Cf 

Christopher Fahey
____________________________
Behavior
http://www.behaviordesign.com
me: http://www.graphpaper.com