Animated Backgrounds on the Web Reduce Reading Speed: Some Empirical Evidence from a Remote Experiment

Abstract

It is generally considered a bad practice to place animations as back-grounds to text. There are many convincing arguments against using animated backgrounds, yet there are few empirical studies that have assessed effects of animated backgrounds in the context of the web. This study therefore set out to collect empirical evidence to support the recommendation of avoiding animated backgrounds. A remote web-based controlled reading experiment was conducted. The results showed that an animated background led to a significant slower read-ing speed and lower preference scores. Hence, the empirical evidence supports the established practices.