Auto-play Slide Shows

An auto-play slide show on the home page is a way to catch users' attention—particularly where compelling images can draw users into the site's content. There are many examples of these on the web, with various slide-control interfaces.

The two examples below use a number to identify each slide. They have an explicit means a pausing the slide show, giving users the ability to control the display (click to see full-sized image):

From: The Gates Foundation

From: Fine Cooking

Alternatively, these slide shows may use an implicit means of pausing the display. In the example below, there is no pause/play control, but clicking one of the round buttons (one for each slide) stops the auto-play.

From: Epicurious

For users,  no control over the auto-play can be frustrating. In the example below, users may navigate to a specific tab, but the slides continue to auto-play regardless of what actions the user takes. On the plus side, the tab interface lets users see the title of each slide.

From: Cook’s Illustrated

Here's another example of the tabbed slide show, with the addition of a very clear pause button:

From: Martha Stewart

The tabbed approach works when slides can be easily named with one or two words. In the example below, the user sees slide thumbnails when the page first loads and when they roll over the pause button:

From: Seattle Mariners