Whether you’re an e-learning newbie or a seasoned expert, it can be hard to come up with new ideas to catch your learners’ attention. Videos with motion graphics like this one are really clever, but...
Published 7 years ago
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Thanks, very nice! I have a related-but-more-general question. When using text animations, is there a general rule of thumb on how long the text should stay on each slide before exiting? I understand that it would depend on how much text is on the slide (and that less is better), but just curious if you (or anyone) has any guidelines they use?
- Hi @Eric
I'm not sure if a reliable metric exists as a guideline to answer your question. Even if it does I'm not sure I'd take too much notice of it; there are potentially too many variables that are likely to impact it.
If it were me, I'd be inclined to put myself in my audience's shoes and consider things like, word count, message complexity/density/familiarity, audience education/literacy skill, concurrent on-screen audio (music, narration, volume), concurrent on-screen activity/animation whiz-bangery, likely physical environment distractions, overall presentation duration (attention may flag over time), is this an isolated presentation or is it in the middle of a longer session...
After objectively considering stuff like that and wearing your audience persona, I think a realistic number will present itself - should certainly get you close enough for the pilot testers to not be too grumpy!
PeteB- I'm not sure if any specific guidelines exist, it's basically trial and error for me. I put a duration that I think will be long enough, and then preview it. When I preview it, I try to read the text and see if I have enough time. Since I'm also the person that wrote it, I tack on an extra second or so since I may be reading it faster because I know what it says.
I also send my course to someone else and try to get their feedback about whether or not it's on the screen long enough (or for too long!).
I wish there was an easy answer to this question, but there really is no magic formula.
- I heard once that you should allow roughly 3 seconds per sentence, as a general guideline... but of course that does not take into consideration any of the wonderful things Pete Brown mentioned. And, like Allison mentioned, I always preview it first and send to others to test out as well.
- Interesting! Thanks for sharing, Jennifer :)
