Autoplay, with a pause button that really is there

Should you turn it on?

Mostly not. The usability research on rotating banners is unkind: people often read a moving slide as an ad and skip it, and a slide that moves while someone is reading is annoying. A row that sits still and can be dragged serves shoppers better. We say so here because it's true, and our guide to measuring a slider shows how to test it in your own shop.

When it does make sense

When nothing on the slide needs to be read at length and the movement is itself the message: a hero with one big picture at a time, a new collection, or a reel whose effect only shows when moving. Autoplay also suits a page shown on a screen in a physical shop, where nobody touches anything.

How the pause works

The WCAG accessibility guidelines ask for a way to pause anything that moves by itself for more than five seconds. So the block shows a pause button when autoplay is on. It can be reached by keyboard, and it stays paused. Pointing at the slider also rests it, because moving away a product someone is about to click is rude.

Choosing the delay

The delay is in the sidebar. Allow for the time needed to read a name and a price, and a little more: four to six seconds is a sensible range, with a long transition on top if you use one. A delay shorter than the transition looks like a fault.

A ticker is different

Autoplay moves from one product to the next and stops. A ticker runs continuously. If you want constant movement along a strip, that's the one you want, and it's a Pro layout.

Questions