Flipper or Ticker?

In the light of CNN's new way of presenting info at the bottom of it's screen, do you think this is better than the usual method of the ticker?

Flipper is best..... except for that clicking noise he made

I voted Skippy.

Though he was still more bearable that than irritating runt Darwin from seaQuest DSV. "Darwin happy!" Bloody hell, it's enough to make me crave a tuna sandwich.

I know what a ticker is...but, what's a flipper?

Rather than a constantly scrolling stream of text - a ticker - you get one sentence appear at once. The effect looks a bit like a four sided sign which rotates to show a different side, with a different sentence on it, each time - hence 'flipper'.

If you've watched the rugby on BBC One recently, you'll notice they use the same effect is used with football scores at the bottom of the screen.

I think it is better because you can read the sentence at your own pace without h...a....v...i....n...g... t...o... w...a...i...t... f....o...r.... t....h....e t....e....x....t t....o a.....p....p....e....a....r!!!

Thanks Moz.

I am using s Flipper for the news I am editing for my College as well. We used LiveType for the effects, and it was awesome.

Flipper is better, tv one's breakfast show over here tried the exact same thing a week ago last monday, for about 10mins then it never appeared again.

Yes - I didn't much like the idea of the flipper when I heard it described... But seeing it in action on CNN, I actually think it works much better than a ticker. Although I do wonder though if for breaking news, a ticker might work better...

Why?

IMHO flippers are less distracting, and easier to read at a glance - as you always see the whole sentence - and there is no constant left/right motion. (They also convert between video standards more cleanly - an issue for CNN who are broadcasting in both 50Hz and 60Hz regions)

However the ticker has an advantage in allowing longer sentences - as the flipper has to make sense in a single screen width, whereas a ticker can tick for as long as it needs to. This isn't always a good thing though.

On the whole I prefer the flipper when it is written properly - as it is less intrusive.