Question

Any disadvantage to having a picture slideshow in the header of my website?  

Answer 1

Check out this website to get a better idea of what your users will experience.  
http://shouldiuseacarousel.com

Comments

@maziar Most excellent!  

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@maziar this is great!  

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@maziar love it. lol

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This sums it up quite nicely.  

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Devin, I’ve been trying to get rid of ours for a min. I’m gonna show the boss this. Haha

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@maziar how is text in a carousel the same as pictures?  

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@laufer no one looks at it.  

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@maziar How do you know?  

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@laufer Look you’ve got a comment section full of people telling you it’s a bad idea and answering your question. I could go find all the studies but I don’t think I need to. If 15 people have told you something is not a good idea and you still need more proof then that’s on you

Answer 2

It will likely slow down your site’s load speed.  

Answer 3

Image lossy compress, good alt, and image sitemap is a factor.  

Answer 4

90%+ of visitors won't wait for slide 2 and beyond. Unnecessary overhead and a proven conversion-killer in most cases. If you do use it, choose a light-weight solution and don't place any important message on subsequent slides. Ideally, avoid it.  

Answer 5

BAG - big ass graphic. Needs to be done right or it can be a speed hog fer sure

Answer 6

Yeah. totally self serving. If you cannot communicate your DSP in one header graphic, return to the drawing board IMO.  

Answer 7

If you can tell a story with it so people want to see the next slide they can do wonders for bounce rates  . Conversely, if all slides are disconnected with individual messages it is pretty much a waste of time. Very few will see slide 2, even fewer as the slides go on.  

Answer 8

So no slideshow in the header or no slideshow period?  

Comments

@laufer product views from different angle without autoplay on product pages are good for UX.  

Answer 9

Creates a horrible user experience.  

Answer 10

90% of the technical issues can be solved with good design and lazy loading. We've got active slideshows with fast load times. That being said, I'm finding this isn't a very effective way of engaging most audiences.  

Answer 11

Yeah here's a good reason. nobody watches a slideshow or cares about it it's horrible ui/ux! And it slows down the site to no end sorry lazy load cache great host who cares still takes up real estate and bloats the page for no reason or return. I have tons of data from different niches heatmaps that show only 1% of people move the slide arrows or dwell on them. what do people do with above the fold. the click on a CTA if they are a warm lead. I switched to static images 3 years ago sliders are the death of conversions and the new trend solid backgrounds and that's it.  

Answer 12

If you’ve got through all of the comments and still aren’t sure to use a carousel. don’t use a carousel.  

Comments

Well, I've done research and sites who's brands I'm trying to loosely emulate (Bentley, Giorgio Armani, Saks Fifth Avenue) all have a carousel at the top of their pages, so it's a bit confusing that all the comments are against it

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@irretentive I don't buy that. If it is a bad practice they wouldn't be using it. They have access to the top designers in the world.  

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@laufer sounds like your mind is made up fella. One last metaphor for you. If you go to a restaurant do you want your course laid out nicely and logically or do you want them on some kind of tower that automatically moves each plate every few seconds. The evidence is out there that they are bad for business. If you put critical information on them people won’t see it, they’ll have scrolled past it before it even loads. Good luck  

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@laufer who ever said that big brands always make the best design decisions? There’s plenty of evidence against that.  

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@burress6370 Show me the evidence

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@laufer if you want to use them, then use them fella you asked for opinions and you got them  

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@laufer 1) Why are you arguing with people about it, when you asked for people's opinions? If you're so set on it, then why ask? 2) Just off the top of my head.  
https://www.creativebloq.com/news/g...-logo

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Here's a couple more  https://www. boredpanda. com/hilarious-design-fails/ https://www. businessinsider. com/the-10-worst-corporate. And then a couple more points peppered in for ya: https://www. impactbnd. com/. /why-homepage-carousels-are-bad https://instapage. com/. /6-reasons-why-image-sliders-are. Lastly, I'll end by saying they aren't always bad. Just in many cases that we see them they are. But there can be cases where they are done well.  
https://www.creativebloq.com/featur...fails

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@burress6370 I challenge people’s information to learn more about it. That’s the thoughtful way to knowledge, I believe. If you don’t want your opinion challenged maybe just don’t give it

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@laufer fair enough. Well, good luck on your project. Make sure you show us when it's done!  

Answer 13

You have be cognitive of the length of time each image is displayed and the transition speed. Moving too fast can actually induce a seizure for someone with Epilepsy.  

Comments

Good Lord, this ADA stuff is a lawyer's dream come true (a Better Call Saul type of lawyer that is)

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@betimes don’t drink and drive, but if you do call me.  

Answer 14

Does it not depend on the actual business and objectives. My example of an accommodation page for a niche event  Happy to hear constructive feedback.  
https://phuketraceweek.com/accommod...n.php

Comments

@demijohn17 yours is fine because it’s rotating non critical information. The big gripe with these things is if they contain critical information. If a user scrolls past your carousel it’s unlikely to affect their outcome on your site. If for example you had a product that was displayed on slide 10 however it’s unlikely it’ll be seen.  

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Thanks for that feedback.  

Answer 15

Strongly suggest checking out the discussion we had over on Conversion Rate Optimization Junkies. In a nutshell - ruuuuuuuun awaaaaay

Answer 16

Scrap it

Answer 17

Nobody, or at least not any numbers worth thinking about, sits there watching slides, they either hit the navigation bar or scroll down to where the 'real' content begins ;)

Answer 18

Imagine you're walking towards a restaurant you have never been to before as you fancy something to eat and they have a big TV screen in the window showing slides of their food. It may have one or two people, now and then, stopping to view the pics for a while but most people would simply walk in to see the inside of the place then look at a menu ;)

Comments

This literally happens to me with these stupid digital menus. I'll walk into a fast-food place, look at the menu, then it changes on me. Or when I first start looking I can't see what I'm looking for because they're not showing it. It's the worst UX ever.  

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@burress6370 lol don't touch those touch screen order by yourself menus in McDonald's and alike, or at least scrub your hands properly before eating if you do. Traces of shit and all sorts on them from so many unclean people touching them!  

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@temptation oh I don’t! But I’m talking about the ones behind the tills

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Ahhhhh yes, DEATH TO SLIDESHOWS!  

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Burn them with fire!