One comparison surface, three focused next steps
This monitor motion test places the same object in three synchronized lanes at different speeds and adds a compact browser-cadence estimate. Use it to describe whether motion looks smooth, trails behind an edge, breaks across a line, or advances unevenly—then move to the focused tool for that symptom.
Choose by what you observe
Use the visual signature, not a broad “motion problem” label, to choose the next check.
If movement steps more coarsely than expected, start with therefresh rate test. It gives the browser estimator a warmup, retains a bounded timing window, reports median and jitter, and lets you compare three selected lane speeds.
If an edge leaves a dark, light, tinted, or repeated trace, use theghosting test. Its polarity, background, object-size, and speed controls help separate an ordinary trail, inverse ghosting, dark smearing, and persistence blur without inventing milliseconds.
If the upper and lower parts of a moving pattern appear laterally displaced, open thescreen tearing test. Its caveat matters: synchronized browser compositing may suppress visible tearing and cannot verify VRR.
A compact vocabulary
| Term | What it describes | What to inspect here |
|---|---|---|
| Refresh rate | How often a display updates per second, expressed in hertz. | The browser can only estimate its callback/presentation cadence, which may approximate it. |
| Frame rate | How many frames an application produces per second. | This page animates in the browser; it does not read a game's frame output. |
| Frame interval | The elapsed time between consecutive frames or callbacks, normally stated in milliseconds. | The compact status uses recent requestAnimationFrame intervals measured with performance.now(). |
| Ghosting | A residual edge or trail associated with transitions not following the requested change cleanly. | Look behind the object, then compare light and dark transition polarities. |
| Persistence blur | Tracking blur that can occur while a sample-and-hold frame remains visible. | Compare the object while tracking it and while fixing your gaze elsewhere. |
| Tearing | Portions of different frames appearing in one scan, often with a horizontal split. | Use the focused bar/grid tool, while accounting for browser synchronization. |
| Stutter | Uneven progress over time from late, held, repeated, or irregular frames. | Watch spacing over time and compare it with the cadence stability readout. |
Begin with the block at the default base speed. The upper lane moves at half that value, the middle lane uses the selected value, and the lower lane moves at twice the value. All positions advance from the same animation clock, so the comparison changes speed without creating three unrelated timers. Switch to a fine line for edge alignment, text for small detail, or bars for a repeated contrast reference.
Faster motion crosses more CSS pixels per callback and can make stepping or blur easier to see. That does not mean the faster lane is a more accurate monitor motion test. Use a speed that resembles the content you care about, repeat in fullscreen, and pause whenever you need a static reference. If reduced motion is enabled at the operating-system or browser level, the tool begins paused and waits for your explicit Start motion action.
Motion reaches your eyes through application rendering, frame scheduling, the browser, compositor, GPU output, display-link timing, panel processing, pixel transitions, and visual tracking. Several stages can produce symptoms that look similar. Use this page to make the observation more specific, then combine the appropriate focused browser tool with current system settings and, where high-stakes characterization matters, controlled external methods.