Spinning Globes and Pouring Coffee

One of the inclinations that web designers have to fight with clients about is the use of gratuitous animation on websites. The client request is usually worded something like “could you jazz that up a bit?” and usually what they want to see is their logo spinning around in 3D. This is almost always a bad idea, mostly because such trinkets do little or nothing to enhance the web experience, and quickly become distracting and annoying.
There are, of course, a few exceptions to this rule and one I came across today is on the front page of Tim Hortons, pictured in part here. This little pouring-coffee animation is a perfect illustration for their front page, and a rare beneficial use of animated graphics.