Selectively disable Silverlight animation (after it gets annoying)?

08-20-2007 1:17 PM |

Hi,

One of the first things I do when I install IE or Firefox is change the settings and add plug-ins to disable GIF and Flash animation.  Animation is OK in its place, but I personally find it gets annoying quickly.   Take for example the "Stay informed. Subscribe to RSS" Silverlight animation here in the forums.  It's a nicely done animation, but having it animate every time I re-enter a Forum has started to wear on me.

It would be nice if I could right click on any Silverlight animation and use the configuration dialog to disable animation everywhere or selectively for that individual one.  Eventually there will be 3rd party browser plug-ins that do it, but IMO it would be nice if it was baked into the existing configuration dialog by MS.

Reference articles about "gratuitous animation" and its negative effect on usability:

"Flash is Evil": http://dack.com/web/flash_evil.html

"Jakob Nielsen: Flash: 99% Bad": www.useit.com/alertbox/20001029.html

Thanks,
Alan Cobb

www.alancobb.com

Re: Selectively disable Silverlight animation (after it gets annoying)?

08-22-2007 4:25 PM |

Thank you for the great idea.  I will bring this up when we're planning new features. 

In the mean time, you might want to use a  browser that allows enabling and disabling add ons on the fly.  I know that IE7 has this option under Tools->Manage Add Ons->Enable and Disable Add Ons. 

 Thanks

Bridgette

Re: Selectively disable Silverlight animation (after it gets annoying)?

08-23-2007 1:41 PM |

Hi Bridgette,

Although IE7's "Manage Add-ons" capability is a good first step, I have the following problem with it.  AFAIK when you use it to disable something like Flash it can only be done "globally", so it effects all Flash content on all websites.

What I'd really like is the ability to selectively control the animation (or visibility period) of individual uses of Silverlight.  The right-click Silverlight configuration dialog would be a great place to do that.  Another thing that sometimes gets left out of Flash content is a way to adjust or disable its audio.

But given the interests and importance of advertisers, I'm not optimistic :).

Thanks,
Alan Cobb

www.alancobb.com

Re: Selectively disable Silverlight animation (after it gets annoying)?

08-23-2007 10:30 PM |

Yes Alan, I understand what you were requesting :)

I was just letting you know about the (all-or-nothing) option that is currently available (on some browsers). 

I'll bring this up when we're planning new features. I don't know if it will make the cut, but those kinds of decisions are usually based on how much we think will it benifit users, what would it take to implement and whether there is room in the schedule. 

Re: Selectively disable Silverlight animation (after it gets annoying)?

08-24-2007 2:02 PM |

Thanks Bridgette.  I appreciate getting your ear on this.

Alan Cobb