Design Favor using GIFs as a forum header?

[Chris C]

I've seen other forums do it and thought it looked great; made the site look alive because the Home page was always moving and attractive, So I had one installed as the header for a custom forum I created recently and I am pleased with it. But I've been trying to do the same thing with another site I am now trying to upgrade the looks of, and the results are not the same. It's grainy rather than High Def, and since my Dev is not really a video guy we have reached stalemate on how to proceed.

At present, I'm either looking into finding somebody who could produce something High Def, or simply switching to having some custom logos made and just leave it at that.

Anyone have any experience at dealing with this, and/ or mulled over the question of using GIFs themselves?

Thanks.

 

[Cedric]

Personally I like a moving header. But I will say that majority will most likely be more bothered about it than appreciate it. But if it all fits well and doesn’t distract you from the actual content, then go for it. We need to make ourselves unique in ways our competition doesn’t.

 

[Chris C]

Personally I like a moving header. But I will say that majority will most likely be more bothered about it than appreciate it. But if it all fits well and doesn’t distract you from the actual content, then go for it. We need to make ourselves unique in ways our competition doesn’t.

Yeah, and see that's kinda my attitude. I want membership and especially staff to be happy with the way the site looks, but honestly, it's my site. I own it and I run it, and I like aesthetics. The more attractive the site is to me, the more pleased I'll be with it, and the more effort I will put into it to make the site better in other ways.

So it's a bit of a catch 22 regarding those who find it distracting, But to me a site will only be what the owner makes it, and without trying to sound self-serving, no one's interest will matter more than mine.

 

[Chris C]

Yeah, and see that's kinda my attitude. I want membership and especially staff to be happy with the way the site looks, but honestly, it's my site. I own it and I run it, and I like aesthetics. The more attractive the site is to me, the more pleased I'll be with it, and the more effort I will put into it to make the site better in other ways.

So it's a bit of a catch 22 regarding those who find it distracting, But to me a site will only be what the owner makes it, and without trying to sound self-serving, no one's interest will matter more than mine.

But I may go with the Logo images instead, LoL. So long as they are well done, it would suffice. But nothing beats a High Def GIF in my opinion. The best looking forums I have ever seen had one.

 

[Arantor]

The only downside of something like that is how big the files tend to get before they start to make pages slow (and Google will penalise it from an SEO perspective)

 

[Chris C]

The only downside of something like that is how big the files tend to get before they start to make pages slow (and Google will penalise it from an SEO perspective)

Yes. I noticed that with this other site (which is far older, and more populated), the GIF we're currently running loads slowly... and it's even worse on an iPhone. The site it works well on is brand new and low volume, so maybe that's all stuff to take into consideration.

Thanks for the input.