Animated anchors: Catching an eye and telling a story

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Where selectively animated anchors play only when the reader activates them (usually by mousing over them), animated anchors play continuously. They usually start when the reader first opens the node.

Time requirements

Efferent information seeking purposes are not usually satisfied by using animated links, as these links require almost as much time to view as hidden links to interpret and follow. However, business ads are not always concerned with providing information, but with enticing clicks. Animated anchors distract the reader and become the focal point for the reader's attention, thereby forcing the reader to think about purchasing the product--or at least a popup nullifier.

Space requirements

Animated anchors pack a lot of content into a limited webspace. This is time based, streaming content, such as Doonesbury's [64]miniature cartoon embedded in the anchor menu.

Because animated links spin their message through time, they can tell a story. An anchor can become a vignette, giving the emotional allure needed to convince online shoppers that the ad is not only worth the distraction, it is worth their credit card number.

Emotional payoffs

Afterimage [7] and The Rainbow Factory [22] use an introductory animated anchor to set the scene and pace. Afterimage entices readers with glimpses of the inside landscape, while The Rainbow Factory mocks reader expectations.

War Games--Catch The LandMine!! [40] uses a parody of animated ads to gain political converts (to be horrified at the problem of mines blowing up children) and to gain sympathy (to be haunted by the images of maimed children accessed by clicking a tawdry cartoon anchor).

Catching and keeping your eye

Ads meant to distract can:

  • Continuously broadcast a looped story. These can be a major component of a site, such as Doonesbury [64]'s navigational anchor or a tangential ad.
  • Appear on the screen, play around a bit to distract the reader, and settle into a corner, waiting to be clicked. These are usually advertisements, working to catch the user's attention eye.
  • Appear over a primary screen, such as a newspaper, and either wait for a specified time to disappear or force the reader to click to read the desired content.