Just one "plug" for Flash

[Gerald Combs]

Jakob Neilsen has a number of good articles about Flash on his site.  In
particular, there's "Flash: 99% Bad":

    http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20001029.html

I've had to cover flash animations with my hand in the past just to be
able to read the content of a web page.  Flash has a lot of good
potential, but most people use it for evil.

BTW, anyone considering the use of a Flash intro page should check out

    http://www.skipintro.nl/skipintro/skipintro98.htm

first.

On Wed, 19 Mar 2003, zscoundrel wrote:

> I am fairly ambivalent towards Flash.  It is neat stuff from the bells 
> and whistles stand point, but I had a LOT of trouble getting it 
> installed on my RH box, and this soured me on the technology.  (This was 
> two years ago, the install is better now, but the frustration remains!)
> 
> I despise a site that automatically drops you into a huge falsh 
> extravaganza before you even get to the main page -  so those sites 
> never get a slice of my eyeball time.  Point of courtesy, if you use 
> flash, don't force it on people.  the delay, even via cable modem, can 
> be annoying when you are in a hurry to do something.
> 
> 
> 
> Bradley Miller wrote:
> > A lot of times I see people wanting to talk about efficiency and speed . 
> > . . let me give you a good example (not mine) that illustrates the point.
> > 
> > Let's say you have multiple  HTML documents, with forms, info, pictures, 
> > etc....   You want to have the user fill out those forms an submit them. 
> > With HTML, you are pushing the code to generate each screen of 
> > information.  When they click next, or submit, the user is waiting on a 
> > page to be shoved back via their dialup or whatever line . . . to their 
> > PC.  You are basically describing a glass filled with water each time -- 
> > whether that's just a simple glass or an ornate mug.
> > 
> > Now how would you do that with flash?  Instead of describing that glass 
> > for every page load, you send the glass once -- as the entire Flash 
> > movie.  The items that need to be filled out or communicated to the user 
> > can be requested -- the water just needs to flow into the pages.  You 
> > save that screen redraw and extra HTML for every page load.  Less byte 
> > count = faster download = happier user.  The initial page load might be 
> > slightly higher depending on the movie complexity, but that slight 
> > burden is negated by the improved user experience in navigating and 
> > interacting with the site.
> > 
> > Like I said in a previous post -- anything can be abused.  From email, 
> > to animated gifs . . . it's been done.  You can't simply throw the baby 
> > out with the bath water here on acceptance of Flash.     I believe one 
> > study was well over 90+% of all web surfers have a Flash player on their 
> > system . . . that's hard numbers to dispute if you can provide a value 
> > added product to your client.  One of the questions that we wrestled 
> > with on this career site was "would people use it" and the overwhelming 
> > answer was "they will if they want a job".
> > 
> > 
> > Bradley Miller, Owner/Programmer/Designer
> > AccessZone Design - www.accesszonedesign.com
> > Blue Springs, Missouri
> > Phone: 816-228-3814             Fax: 775-254-6162
> > Toll-free: 888-872-4420 ICQ: 48555780 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 
> -- 
> A marble traveling at 22,000 miles per hour would strike with as
> much force as a 400-pound safe traveling at just 60 miles per hour.
> 
> 
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