Large motion effects can trigger dizziness, nausea, and migraine in people with vestibular conditions. Browsers and operating systems have a setting for this, and sites can respect it in a few lines, but most never check whether it has been set.

The problem is physical

Not a preference. For people with vestibular disorders, large-scale motion on screen can produce dizziness, nausea, disorientation, and headache, sometimes lasting well after they leave the page.

Vestibular conditions are more common than most people assume, and the group affected also includes people prone to migraine and people recovering from concussion, which is a substantial number.

The practical consequence is that a visitor can be physically unable to use a site that works perfectly for everyone else, and they will simply leave without explaining why.

What causes it

Scale and direction matter more than the presence of animation.

What is generally fine: small fades, colour transitions, subtle hover states, and short movements of small elements. The distinction is roughly whether a large portion of the screen is moving.

The setting that already exists

Operating systems have a reduce motion setting, and browsers pass it to websites. Somebody who needs this has almost certainly already switched it on.

That means the site does not have to guess. It can check whether the preference is set and respond accordingly, which is a few lines in the stylesheet and is one of the highest-value accessibility changes available for the effort.

Most sites never check, so the preference is set and ignored, which is the same failure pattern as overriding a visitor's text size.

What responding to it looks like

Remove the large motion, keep the function

An element that fades in instead of sliding still appears. A carousel that changes without a sliding transition still works. Nothing needs to be removed, only the movement.

Turn off parallax entirely

There is no reduced version of parallax. It either happens or it does not, and when the preference is set it should not.

Stop autoplay

Carousels and background video should not start on their own when the preference is set. A static first slide and a play control covers it.

Keep essential motion

Where movement conveys meaning, such as a loading indicator, it can remain, ideally in a less intense form.

Autoplay carousels, which fail several ways at once

Worth a separate note because they are common on small business sites and cause more problems than any other single element.

They move without being asked, which is the motion problem. They move on before slow readers finish, which is a comprehension problem. They are frequently not operable by keyboard, which is an operability problem. And the content on slides after the first is seen by very few people, which means most of what is in them is not being read regardless.

The usual conclusion is that the best carousel on a small business site is no carousel, with the content that mattered placed on the page instead.

Where this overlaps with everyone else

The changes help visitors with no condition at all.

Animation costs performance, particularly on older phones, where heavy scroll effects produce visible stuttering. Removing them makes the site faster and smoother for everybody.

They also cost attention. A page where things move as you scroll is harder to read than one where they do not, and a visitor trying to find a phone number does not benefit from elements arriving with a flourish.

Checking your own site

Switch on the reduce motion setting in your operating system, then reload your site.

If nothing changes, the site is not checking. That is the finding, and it applies to most sites built from a theme where the animation came bundled.

Then scroll the site normally and count the things that move. On many small business sites the answer is a hero effect, an entrance animation on every section, and a carousel, none of which were deliberate decisions.

The reasonable position

Motion is not forbidden and it should be modest, purposeful, and switchable off.

Subtle transitions make an interface feel responsive and cost nobody anything. Large scroll-driven effects impress the person approving the design and are a genuine obstacle for a share of visitors while slowing the site for the rest.

Given that most small business visitors arrive with a specific question and limited patience, that trade rarely favours the animation, which is the same reasoning that applies to text sizing in text size and zoom.

Frequently asked questions

Why does website animation cause problems?

For people with vestibular disorders, large-scale motion can produce dizziness, nausea, disorientation, and headache, sometimes lasting after they leave the page.

Which effects cause the most trouble?

Parallax scrolling, large elements sliding on entry, automatic carousels, zooming on scroll, autoplaying background video, and anything rotating.

Is there a way for visitors to signal this?

Yes. Operating systems have a reduce motion setting that browsers pass to websites, and anyone who needs it has almost certainly already switched it on.

What should a site do when that preference is set?

Remove the large motion while keeping the function: fade instead of slide, no parallax at all, no autoplay. Essential motion such as a loading indicator can remain.

Are carousels a problem?

They fail several ways at once: motion without being asked, moving on before slow readers finish, poor keyboard operability, and slides after the first being seen by very few people.

How do I check my own site?

Switch on reduce motion in your operating system and reload. If nothing changes, the site is not checking, which is the case for most sites built from a theme.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Site with scroll effects that came with the theme?

We make them respect the visitor's motion setting, which also removes the stuttering on older phones.

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