Slideshows – articles for dummies

I really, really hate it when online sources turn lists into slideshows.  Maybe they think the pictures will make the list more memorable, but mostly it makes it a waste of time and bandwidth as the photos – or now, gifs! – load. 

To me, things are done as a slide show for one or more of the following reasons:

• The writer doesn’t have enough information to write a real article of substance, so is taking something short and making it long 
• The writer doesn’t really know how to write.  The pause of page reloads makes it less obvious that there's no flow.  Or even, no content of value. 
• The website wants every reader to have to click 5, or 8, or 10, or 50! times so that the page reloads and new ads can be presented along with the next photo
•  As above, the writer thinks the pictures will make the list more memorable.  But this implies that the list doesn’t stand on its own
• The writer thinks the article is funnier with the pictures

It’s not that I mind pictures as part of an article.  Even I do it occasionally.  See? 

Here’s the Brookfield Zoo’s new baby gorilla, Nora, with her mom, Koola.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with this article, except that I have significant respect for our gorilla cousins.  I doubt they’d communicate with slideshows.

What I mind is an article that essentially consists of One. Picture. At. A. Time. Each with a one-liner (the “list”) or possibly a short explanation along with it.  No matter how much the title intrigued me, I am very likely to X the browser tab and move on.  A picture is NOT worth a thousand words when it’s just a representation for a sentence of six.  

There are also “fake slideshows” showing up.  This is only slightly better.  You don’t have to click to see the next picture, but for every sentence there’s a picture.  Or two.  This morning I clicked on something and it took FOREVER to load.  It turned out to be because essentially for every 1-2 sentence “paragraph”, there were, side-by-side, one photo and one gif.  I didn’t even let it finish loading.  I no longer remember what the topic was. 

Boys and girls, when I just want to look at photos for fun, I’ll visit the Cheezburger network.  When I want information, I want to read it (okay, exceptions for TED talks, about which more in a future post).  If you don’t have enough to say, don’t go looking for pictures and then publish them.  Please.