![]() ![]() We’ve tried to objectively explain what you should do if you (or a client) wants to use sliders on your homepage. There are better alternatives available (e.g., strong hero images, targeted CTAs, video messages, etc.), both in respect to web performance and user engagement and conversion. While you may still use a slider in certain scenarios (e.g., below-the fold photo galleries, testimonials, etc.), it’s best to avoid making them the focal point of your website. However, developers strongly dislike them because of their many performance and UX drawbacks, and the fact that they’re not great for user engagement, conversions, and/or SEO. They appeal to clients because they’re relatively easy to add, everybody can get a spot on the homepage, and they bring an array of animations, transitions, and special effects. Our recent poll confirms what we’ve always suspected – clients love them while most developers hate them. Sliders and carousels are highly contentious on the Internet. Keep in mind that large unoptimized videos can impact your page’s performance so consider using some performance-minded strategies, such as using a placeholder image and only loading the video when the user clicks on it (AKA Lazy load third-party resources with facades). Read more here on some great tips for homepage videos. Videos can work as a great online marketing tool because they can be personalized and tailored to target specific users. ![]() Unlike sliders, videos usually focus on a single story – answering the question as to why you visited the website, and what the website has to offer, whether it’s a product or service or information on a particular topic. ![]() Video content is more engaging than sliders, and have shown to be great at conversions. Sliders can be useful when you’re working specifically with products, especially when you want to show off featured products or categories. Unclear navigation structure – slider may use arrows, dots, or swipes (on mobile) to move to the next slide.Lack of control – slides may be moving too fast or in a janky manner (also reducing accessibility for some visitors).User Frustration – Automatic sliders can both distract and frustrate your visitors, due to:.Performance penalty – more JavaScript is required to automate the rotating carousels.It’s also preferable that you don’t use automatic sliders and instead let users manually scroll through your photos, for the following reasons: No matter what you do, always make sure that your images are properly sized for target devices and optimally compressed for lower file sizes. You can also lazy load your below-the-fold slider images for an added performance bonus. We’d still recommend not placing the sliders above-the-fold in the interest of performance (and a quick LCP).īy placing the slider “below-the-fold” and not making it the focal point of your website, you can improve the performance of your page as the browser isn’t trying to load the slider first, enabling other critical content to load faster. Well-designed below-the-fold sliders are often suitable for photo galleries or displaying stunning visuals. Specifically, we asked them for their thoughts on the overall effectiveness of having sliders on their website – taking into account their impact on page performance, UI, and the user experience. We polled users on various social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) on whether they were using sliders on the homepage. GTmetrix Poll Suggests Majority of Users Dislike Sliders on the Homepageīefore we get into the specifics of where you can use sliders, here’s some real-world opinions about them. In this article, we’ll discuss which scenarios are actually suitable for slider use and suggest alternatives for sliders in the interest of a better user experience. However, despite all the issues surrounding sliders, you may still be interested in using a slider or have a client who insists on having one. We’ve previously covered the pros and cons of using sliders and carousels on your homepage. Do you want to use a slider on your homepage? We explain when you can do so and suggest some alternatives for when you probably shouldn’t. ![]()
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