What do you think of FLASH pages nowadays?

[rh71]

Read a nice tutorial on Flash concepts, etc... what to do, what not to do, and when is it too much. I'm all for practicality and so I designed my site as such... though I'm very impressed by animation as well. The only thing I dislike is when there's information on a site and you have to look around at what to click in order to get to it. That's my only beef with people over-doing it.

Here's the well-written article on Flash usability...

I think all Flash designers should give it a once-over... make this world a better place.

 

[rh71]

So nobody cares... I'll move to software soon...

 

[SpecialEd]

good read... I love sites made w/Flash.. I agree on your point of not over doing it.... Many sites are too "Flashy" (no pun intended). People need to be tasteful and keep the end user in mind. I bet Flash will take out html as the main website designing meduim in less than four years....

 

[Way Cool Jr.]

I still think the best sites give you an option for either HTML or Flash.

Sometimes I just want some quick info, but when I have to wait while I watch an entire flash intro, that really iratates me.

 

[yobarman]

I swear to god if one more flash site asks me "Are you ready?" i'll scream..

 

[yoyo25]

It really depends on the site...like having Flash on a portal site like yahoo or msn will never work. People want things to load up fast and give them the information they want to see. I see Flash more used for art or demonstartions/presentations etc.

 

[notfred]

I hate flash. The only time flash is good is in games, or animated videos. It should NOT be used as an interface to a website.

 

[SpecialEd]

for right now, flash is too slow for main stream sites like MSN or Yahoo... but as technology improves and internet connections speed up... I can see main stream sites eventually using flash... of course it wouldn't be like the sites you see today with 1hour intros and annoying sounds. they'll probably use just simple, eye pleasing interface... html text is starting to look alittle old fashioned.

 

[Spooner]

I fully agree with Flash being an amazingly effective web tool.

But, just like anything, when overdone.... it kills its own purpose

 

[perry]

<< I hate flash. The only time flash is good is in games, or animated videos. It should NOT be used as an interface to a website. >>



Werd.

 

[rh71]

<< I swear to god if one more flash site asks me "Are you ready?" i'll scream.. >>



LOL... it's true... I see a lot of this. But if it's a case where they make you click a "continue"-type button, it's because they need the user to "set-focus" on the current Flash movie. This allows any subsequent text boxes to be type-able without having to click on it later. Without setting focus, you will need to click in the input box before you can type in it (even if the cursor is already blinking in there). You'll see what I mean if you go into my page and either the Contact or Guestbook section.

Even so, you are a funny man. Flash rocks. Many people do not know of it's scripting capabilities and how powerful it can be, especially coupled with dynamic web application languages like CF, JSP, PHP, ASP, etc. It can be a used as an e-commerce shop if so desired (though not practical yet). Future versions of Flash takes this into consideration... don't judge too soon.

 

[SaintAshlar]

Flash can be pretty annoying... but not nearly as annoying as sites that carry their content in a pop-up (especially pop-ups that you can't resize). I like everything nice and tidy.

 

[Blieb]

rh71 - get my pm?

 

[royaldank]

I like Flash and do a little bit myself.

What I hate are the new Flash ads that just pop up and take up the entire screen. They aren't even in a window and you have to search for the close button. I can't believe so many sites allow these types. I mean, the whole can cover the site and finding the close button can be a pain.

There are also the annoying flash ads that have something like a car race across the screen a couple of times before their dang popup (which takes up the entire screen).

But, flash like 2advanced.com is really cool looking.

 

[rh71]

<< rh71 - get my pm? >>



Get mine? Sent it about 30 mins ago. Re-sent another... doesn't show in my history... maybe your PMs are at capacity?

 

[rh71]

<< What I hate are the new Flash ads that just pop up and take up the entire screen. They aren't even in a window and you have to search for the close button. I can't believe so many sites allow these types. I mean, the whole can cover the site and finding the close button can be a pain. >>


Alt-F4 baby.



<< But, flash like 2advanced.com is really cool looking. >>


Eric Jordan is a master of Flash... long before anyone else became one.

 

[kgraeme]

I was talking with some Macromedia folks at DevCon a few months ago. Their big thing right now is how Flash can be used for real interface development, and not just skipmovies. You know the ones, the intro movies with the "skip" button. Right now, they are working on some amazing Flash-database integration that puts Generator to shame. And the scripting capability within Flash is now on par with JavaScript, heck ActionScript and JavaScript are basically the same language now. Imagine full, fluid applications that run in your browser and that aren't limited by HTML.

 

[novon]

Flash is cool...much better than HTML for slim-content sites.

My simple flash site

 

[rh71]

Novon, that's a pretty good professional looking site.



<< I was talking with some Macromedia folks at DevCon a few months ago. Their big thing right now is how Flash can be used for real interface development, and not just skipmovies. You know the ones, the intro movies with the "skip" button. Right now, they are working on some amazing Flash-database integration that puts Generator to shame. And the scripting capability within Flash is now on par with JavaScript, heck ActionScript and JavaScript are basically the same language now. Imagine full, fluid applications that run in your browser and that aren't limited by HTML. >>


Flash-database access would be sweet. One of the reasons I mentioned web application languages like CF, JSP, PHP, etc. which are all powerful dynamic content programming languages... because Flash doesn't provide native support for database interaction. I guess they read the Flash 6 wishlist floating around somewhere.

 

[peto]

I remember my old flash days. Any CS Nation lackeys might have seen my work (if you can call it that). I'd like to make my own little site some day if I had content and a host. Like previously stated, it does get really annoying when sites (especially clan sites and such) say ,"Are you ready?". What bothers me even more than that is when people design a flash thats supposed to make you think you're some l33t hacker or spy or something. You know like "Logging into the super-mega-hyper secret server... Username authorized... Password authorized... ACCESS GRANTED!!!" (no offense rh71, just some constructive criticism) IMO, a great example of tastefully done flash is phong.com.