Are Carousels Ruining Your Website’s User Experience?

When it comes to website design, there’s one element in particular that you’ll have no trouble finding opinions on. Carousels.

Carousels are a controversial topic. Some designers love them while others despise them. You’d be hard-pressed to find a designer that felt neutrally about them.

But, with all this talk, you might be wondering how much damage they can really cause and if there are any redeeming qualities that can actually benefit your website. Let’s take a moment to explore this together.

Carousels have become ubiquitous elements in website design, featuring a series of rotating content panels typically displayed in a horizontal or vertical format. Carousels are good for showcasing multiple pieces of content, such as images, text, or multimedia, within a limited space on a webpage.

A carousel refers to a slideshow or a rotating banner that displays multiple pieces of content, such as images, videos, or text, within a confined space on a webpage. Carousels are often used on the homepage or landing pages of websites to showcase featured products, promotions, or important announcements.

Typically, a carousel consists of several slides or panels that cycle through the content either automatically or through user interaction, such as clicking arrow buttons or pagination indicators. The transition between slides can include various effects, such as sliding, fading, or zooming, to add visual interest and engagement.

Carousels offer a dynamic way to present information and engage users, allowing website owners to highlight multiple messages or products in a limited space. However, they can also present usability challenges, such as banner blindness and slow load times, if not implemented carefully.

The argument behind every critic of carousel boils down to user experience. The whole point of UX design is to create websites that are intuitive and easy to use. It can be said that carousels disrupt this process.

To achieve UX goals, the user shouldn’t need to put much effort into making a choice. We put a ton of emphasis on clean, clear design and function, so it only makes sense that a moving, ever-changing primary element is going to put a kink in that.

Plus, the use of a carousel brings up some practical concerns for UX design. For example, carousels can slow pages down which can hurt SEO. They also don’t always transition well for the mobile consumer, which is enough for some web designers to not even give them a chance. Considering carousel UX design implications, it's essential to weigh the potential drawbacks against the benefits before incorporating them into a website or app design.

Additionally, carousels can make some users feel like they don’t have control of the experience. They’re being forced to view content via auto-forwarding that they didn’t agree to, similar to an auto-play video. This can also be an accessibility violation called time-based media. In other words, a carousel may move to another segment before the user is ready. This is especially problematic for users with cognitive and visual disabilities. One good UX measure to counter this issue is having the segment pause when hovering over it. This is an approach also used by Amazon.  

Also, there’s research that indicates the great majority of users don’t bother to flip to the segments of the carousels. According to ND.edu, on average less than 1% of visitors click on carousel features.  This is also due to banner blindness, where our subconscious willfully ignores marketing bombardments, which carousels may potentially be perceived as. ​According to Jakob Nielsen, carousels are usually either ignored entirely or at least are perceived as annoying by users. Incorporating carousel UX design best practices can mitigate these issues and improve user engagement and interaction with the content presented in carousels.

In other words, visitors will likely just glance at the first segment and scroll down to other page content. So, if your marketing campaign strategy relies on people seeing those segments, you might want to reconsider how this content is presented. For example, one other way to better expose the content on the carousel is to show multiple segments at a time when the user is on a bigger form factor like desktop or tablet.

Sounds pretty bad, right? Not necessarily. There are some good things about carousels, too. Let’s take a look.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are the optimists that will argue that there are UX benefits to carousels that outweigh the cons.

For example, carousels are good to keep a user engaged on a page. They give the visitor something to look at, highlight premier content and provide a nice visual break from the rest of the page.

Also, let’s consider what carousels are composed of, images. Pages that contain interesting visual components are better for UX than blocks of text. When done right, each image tells a different visual story for your brand.

Considering user experience is paramount in carousel design to ensure that they effectively engage and inform users without causing frustration or confusion. Factors to consider include:

Ensuring that carousels are accessible to users with disabilities, including keyboard navigation and screen reader compatibility.

Optimizing load times and minimizing resources to ensure smooth transitions and responsiveness.

Curating compelling and relevant content to capture users' attention and encourage interaction.

Designing intuitive navigation controls and clear indicators to guide users through the carousel's content seamlessly.

The answer to the carousels question shouldn’t be yes or no, but rather when. It’s true that they can ruin a website when they’re implemented without taking the time to do a little user research.  

And while some say that carousels take value away from a page, they can be a feasible approach for consolidating visual content that would otherwise overwhelm a page. Although, critics will argue this is a lazy designer approach to integrating more images.

Carousels can vary in their effectiveness depending on implementation and context. While they offer a visually dynamic way to showcase content, they may not always provide the best user experience. Factors such as usability, accessibility, and user engagement should be considered when determining if carousels are suitable for your website.

Carousel UX examples can include image sliders, product showcases, featured content displays, and more. These examples demonstrate how carousels can be used to enhance user experience by presenting information in a visually appealing and interactive format.

The number of slides in a carousel should be determined based on the content being showcased and user behavior. It's essential to strike a balance between providing enough information to engage users without overwhelming them with too many slides. Typically, carousels with fewer slides (around 3 to 5) tend to perform better in terms of user engagement.

While carousels can be visually appealing, they can also negatively impact user experience if not implemented correctly. Issues such as slow loading times, poor accessibility, and user frustration due to auto-forwarding or lack of control can contribute to a negative experience. It's essential to carefully consider the pros and cons of using carousels on your website.

Optimizing carousel UX design involves factors such as ensuring fast loading times, providing navigation controls for users, optimizing images for different devices, and testing for accessibility. By focusing on these aspects, you can improve the overall user experience of your carousel.