I hate carousel on websites
Mar 30, 2026 · web design
Here's why
It's just more effort for effectively very little to no result.
If you need more convincing
1% click-through rate on auto-rotating carousels (Notre Dame study) — and 89% of those clicks go to the first slide only
Users ignore carousels, mistaking them for ads (banner blindness)
Auto-play carousels cause motion/accessibility issues for users without controls to pause/stop the animation
Nielsen Norman Group: carousels are one of the most misused patterns — content after slide 1 is effectively invisible
| Problem | Impact | | Auto-rotation | Users can't read before it changes |
| Low discoverability | Most users never click to next slide |
| Ad resemblance | Banner blindness kicks in |
| Mobile interaction conflicts | Horizontal swipe competes with page scroll |
When it works
- User-controlled (no auto-play), e.g. product image galleries
- Low-stakes content where missing a slide doesn't matter
- Mobile app patterns where swipe is natural and expected (e.g. photo galleries)