Don’t Compromise Your Site Speed with GIF Animation
Important tips to keep your web page vibrant and user-friendly
GIF animations aren’t something new. Their widespread use has been prominent even in the previous decade.
You’ve seen them in captivating social media greetings, funny memes, or as cool UI/UX features on your webpage.
However, using them excessively can compromise your site’s speed and performance.
GIF Animations vs. Your Page Health
Many tend to regard GIF format files as moving pictures rather than videos. If you think the opposite way, GIF animations would be short videos that are always on autoplay.
Imagine loading a main page with a line of YouTube videos autoplaying simultaneously. This would cause chaos and, of course, disrupt the user experience of your viewers. Doing so would also make your page heavy, increasing page load time.
The rest is simple math — your bounce rate spikes, and you won’t be able to retain traffic on your website. Ironically, we want to capture your viewers through the animation and make them stay.
So, how can we do this without compromising your website and making it efficient for users?
GIF Optimization
Yes, you can use GIF animations without wasting your users’ time. Whether it’s to improve the overall UI of your website, present interactive infographics, or use animated icons for better user navigation, all is feasible without affecting your website’s health if you know how to optimize your GIF usage properly.
Online tools like EZGif or GIPHY offer readily available and free resources for you to start with. Trim down any frames, elements, and colors that are not necessary. Be mindful of your file’s weight and ensure you reduce it as much as possible while still meeting your creative vision.
The Wonders of ‘Lazy Loading’
If lazy loading is a new term for you, you’ll thank me for this brief introduction.
Remember the part where I equate GIFs to videos being on autoplay all at once? Well, you can use lazy loading to counteract this.
It’s one way to ensure your animated assets only load when visitors view them. That means no GIFs will play unnecessarily when no one’s watching, immensely helping your website without having to remove your GIF animations.
Get to Know the Alternative: CSS
CSS isn’t as complicated as it sounds. By incorporating CSS animation for your GIF files, your website will have a refresh without heavy image files. This offers your potential viewers a smooth and seamless UX.
Of course, web developers have to be specific when choosing between CSS sprites and GIF animations. CSS animation is smaller in nature because it’s mainly made up of script, while a GIF animation is an image file uploaded onto your landing page.
I’m afraid we don’t have space for such intricacies here, but I’d recommend you explore and consider CSS as an option.
Testing and Monitoring
The only way for you to know the effectiveness of your website optimization is through frequent checking and maintenance.
After all, testing should be the first thing you start with before blaming it on the GIFs for your site’s issues. A full, detailed report might tell you what you have to fix specifically.
Obtain your website performance data through tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrix. Here, you will be able to see your page’s overall health — and what’s even better, they will specify all the reasons that affect it. So you no longer have to worry about determining what to tweak.
Get Help from Animators
Animators, too, might possess the knowledge and skills to ensure that the content they create will not affect a web page’s health.
If you’re a business and considering using GIFs as your web icons, infographics, or any other page elements, sit down with an animator and seek their advice.
Most animators have a wide portfolio and insights based on their previous clients. They’re widely available online as well.
I found one on Fiverr, and I’ve received tons of great tips and advice about web animation from her. Get to know her service now — click here for more information.
