Animations are part of web design tools that can aid a quick web design job. With good animation comes good design.
There are a lot of paid and free animations out there, and today I will review some of them and the ones you need to get started in your web design career.
Although animations are cool, it is sometimes distracting when there is excess. As a web designer, The more animation there is on a website, the more distracting it will become.
The main purpose of most website animations is to entice visitors and gain more attraction online.
Now let’s uncover everything you should know about website animation and how to get started with them.
What is web animation design?
Animation is a method of causing distraction & Attraction to a user when a website’s loading isn’t powering up.
The proper definition of animation is very clear and it is defined as the act of creating effects and distracting designs on a website to either increase user time spent on the website or add attraction to the website.
If you have ever been to a website and on the homepage, you see floating text or a disappearing background, those are the perfect examples of animation.
Animation comes in different types and forms. The more you go deep into web design, the more you will understand how things work.
Which software is used for web design animation?
CSS was one of the first methods that were used to input animations on websites, but soon enough, drag and drop came into place.
So basically, the first tool/method of adding animation to a website is Other tools that came into place are drag and drop or graphics.
For Drag and Drop animations, we have website builder tools like
- WordPress Elementor
- WordPress Beaver Builder
- Weebly Website Creator
- Squarespace website creator
and a lot more. There are more than you can think of when it comes to drag and drop website building features.
While for animated images, simple designs and others that have to do with non-website builders include:
- Canva
- undraw.com
- Flaticon
- Postermywall
The four above are what I mainly make use of.
Before I totally forget, FIGMA is also another good animation tool that is made use of. Keep in mind that different tools are generated daily.
How do I create animation for my website?
You can create different animations depending on
- The type of website that you are building
- Positioning of animation
- The platform you are making use of
What type of website are you building?
The type of website matters a lot. A good design comes in handy with a great website.
When going for animations, you should consider the type of website you are building because that will determine if you are on the right track.
Some simple website designs do not need any animation. So the nature of what you are building is what determines the effect of animation that goes with it.
Quick Check;
Links for you!
Best website platform for you!
How much do Web page designers earn?
Introduction to web design and creation
Positioning of animation
Positioning is also a great factor that can be of great effect in designs. There are certain spots on websites that attract more users.
spots like the header background on the top, the first banner image, the text flow, and also images in between.
Animations aren’t really cool when they are placed on the footer or within other pages. Only the home and services pages are suitable for incorporating animated design.
Understanding the position where it can attract your users is what you don’t want to miss.
The platform you are making use of
Every platform is a good deal when it comes to website design. Every platform has its own animation builder apart from Blogger.
If you are unsure about the number of platforms available or the best platform for web design, here is a great article to read: Best website platform for web designer.
In Blogger, you have to be able to tweak HTML and CSS in order to add animation to the website.
WordPress, Shopify, Square Space, and Weebly are all distinct.
Most websites are built with WordPress and there are different tools and plugins that can be used to add animation to your WordPress website. In WordPress, tools like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Gutenberg are good for animation design.
You have to try them out to be able to know which is better. Get into the design of finding the best for your users.
Should I animate my website or is it distracting?
The perfect answer for this is: what do your users like best? Animations aren’t really bad, but don’t make them excessive.
Excessive animation on a website causes distraction. When the effect on a page is too much, the website’s feel is lost and the design becomes crappy.
However, I would recommend using simple animation, such as a hover effect or zooming, on your text and images. These little effects cause a lot of changes and are appealing to the eyes.
Try animating just your website homepage and get it done in a simple way and watch your audience retention grow. I have tested this and I can properly advise you to add a little animation to it.
Does animation slow my website?
Not really. A slow website is just slow. The animation has nothing really to do with it.
Your website does not slow down; they only add design features to it.
I tested this by creating a one-page website with and without animation. After doing this, I went to Google Page Speed Test to see if any of them would be faster or not.
To summarize it all, none was faster or slower. They were both at 90%. This then confirms the fact that animation doesn’t speed up or slow down a website.
The 4 best web animation techniques for you
1 hovering
Hovering is a very good effect/animation that can be added to your website. With hovering, you get to allow your visitors to see different designs as they scroll through your website.
This can be created with either drag and drop or CSS and JavaScript if you are into coding.
Hovering is superb on PC, desktop and laptop computers but isn’t really fun when it comes to mobile.
You might have come across this once or twice on some websites before. It is seen on images sometimes, especially the images that become dark when you scroll through them.
2. zooming and transitioning
This is occasionally used on most WordPress websites.It has to do with some simple motions and transitions. Not ignoring the fact that it can be done on other website builder platforms,
3. a slide show of galleries
This is another useful transition that you need to check out. It makes your gallery images fun and causes your pictures to form a good design.
- dynamic background
This is usually found on the header of the homepage of a website. It is more beautiful when text and buttons are added.
There are also more transitions out there that you can try, but the ones listed here are the major ones I have made use of. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.
Thanks for the post victor. I really appreciate your effort to spend time writing.