Can I add some animation?

Used simply and well, animation can be a great addition for your users.

Animation can keep the user engaged even before the website fully loads. This keeps users from leaving too soon. Here’s a video by UX guru, Luke Wroblewski on how to make websites seem more active when they are loading.

Micro interactions can turn boring elements into exciting and engaging components and help users navigate your site. Scroll animations can grab a user’s attention, making websites look and feel more dynamic and interesting, encouraging a user to scroll further.

Adding animation in the wrong way can have a detrimental affect. Users don’t want to wait around for an animation to finish. Bad animation can cause motion sickness. Using animated giffs can bloat your site and increase load times.

For animation best practices check out this podcast with the awesome Sarah Drasner.