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Just recently on a forum I moderate somewhere out in cyberspace ... Flashing, flickering & strobing content
An avatar that I liked of a woman taking a photo with a good old fashioned flash camera began giving me a headache and was distracting me from reading.
Now being dyslexic I try hard not to pay attention to flashing images, it isn't only people with cognitive and Nero difficulties who find them off putting though it should be said, advertisers wouldn't use them on websites to grab our attention if it was.
So anyway I mention her avatar gives me a headache, then my friend messing around changes hers to one that flashes even faster, the whole image that is. Being a moderator I remove the avatar as it was done only in fun any way, only she keeps replacing it. In the end the admin tell me to stop it's only a joke after all, so I am forced to hide all avatars on the site.
Then have to let all the mods know that I can not see any avatars to moderate anything offensive. I posted about having a proven condition that is affected by flashing images, then quickly googled to back myself up. Below is an example of what is generally said:
As a minimum such images are distracting whilst trying to read the content. Animations and moving text are also considered distracting.
Visual effects that flicker or produce a strobe-like effect may cause seizures in some individuals.
Seizures induced by flickering or strobe-like effects are known as photo-epileptic seizures.
Seizures can be dangerous. Don't be responsible for causing them.
Warning: Do not use the following link if you have any cause to believe that you may be adversely affected by strobing or flickering images. Example of flickering images.
Do not use blink or marquee. These are not valid HTML and users cannot control them.
It is also worthy to note that two images flickering at two different rates may also cause seizures as the interaction between the two phases.
The link in the quote shows examples of the different frequencies that cause problems, the most interesting thing I read though was about the two images flashing at differing rates, when I was at school the optometrist's prescribed me tinted lenses due to my photo sensitivity and the affect that simple strip lights (the long tubes used in classrooms) had on me, it was the same affect that I was now having with the two flashing avatars.
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