I am using the SmartZone template and thought it was just me who hated that the video started automatically. I work in the middle of the night and if I forget to turn down the audio, it is startling.
A recent report in Website Magazine say that most people hate autostarted audio and video. Can we add a button to start it if the visitor wishes?
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See number 3
http://www.websitemagazine.com/conte...ign=newsletter
3) The Autoplay Issue
A video that plays by itself turns into an irritant for the visitor, whose only goal then becomes to find the tab where the audio is playing and close it. It is important to remember that your visitor might not be at the comfort of their home, but instead maybe at work, or school or at some place where watching a video is not appropriate.
Secondly, visitors like to think that they are in charge of their actions. Having the video play automatically without them having to initiate any action on their part is a poor usability technique. Your visitor might already be listening to their favorite music while visiting your website. By forcing your video or audio content upon them, you are only giving them more reasons to close your Web page.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (section 1.4.2) states that if an audio is automatically played for more than three seconds, an option should be shown to the visitor whereby they could pause or mute the audio. This option should be independent from the systems' main volume controller.
Facebook recently launched autoplay ads on its newfeed, and in less than 24 hours we already have Web users searching for ways to block these annoying ads.
In a survey based on 605 participants, it was found that 70 percent of them found ads that played automatically sounded very negative.
Although there haven't been any major research done on whether the presence of auto playing videos increases the likelihood of people leaving your website, just a quick search on popular forums will return comments like this:
"One time I really needed some info of this page and it was blaring some cheesy tween pop song. I was in a crowded room and quickly scrolled through the page to get the info and then slammed the laptop shut like it was a ticking time bomb." ~ Karen
But if you know that the majority of your visitors read your website from a cubicle, for example, video play should always be user initiated.
- See more at: http://www.websitemagazine.com/conte....x3q7KSHS.dpuf
A recent report in Website Magazine say that most people hate autostarted audio and video. Can we add a button to start it if the visitor wishes?
--
See number 3
http://www.websitemagazine.com/conte...ign=newsletter
3) The Autoplay Issue
A video that plays by itself turns into an irritant for the visitor, whose only goal then becomes to find the tab where the audio is playing and close it. It is important to remember that your visitor might not be at the comfort of their home, but instead maybe at work, or school or at some place where watching a video is not appropriate.
Secondly, visitors like to think that they are in charge of their actions. Having the video play automatically without them having to initiate any action on their part is a poor usability technique. Your visitor might already be listening to their favorite music while visiting your website. By forcing your video or audio content upon them, you are only giving them more reasons to close your Web page.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (section 1.4.2) states that if an audio is automatically played for more than three seconds, an option should be shown to the visitor whereby they could pause or mute the audio. This option should be independent from the systems' main volume controller.
Facebook recently launched autoplay ads on its newfeed, and in less than 24 hours we already have Web users searching for ways to block these annoying ads.
In a survey based on 605 participants, it was found that 70 percent of them found ads that played automatically sounded very negative.
Although there haven't been any major research done on whether the presence of auto playing videos increases the likelihood of people leaving your website, just a quick search on popular forums will return comments like this:
"One time I really needed some info of this page and it was blaring some cheesy tween pop song. I was in a crowded room and quickly scrolled through the page to get the info and then slammed the laptop shut like it was a ticking time bomb." ~ Karen
But if you know that the majority of your visitors read your website from a cubicle, for example, video play should always be user initiated.
- See more at: http://www.websitemagazine.com/conte....x3q7KSHS.dpuf
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