Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Flash me and I'll go away Macromedia is taking heat after its web site re-design caused compatibility problems and general confusion amongst its viewers. Macromedia launched a beta, or test version, of the revamped site last week, aimed partly at spreading the company's message about using its Flash animation software to create more attractive and useful sites. The new site is built entirely in Flash, allowing it to use sophisticated animation for navigating menus and other tasks. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Note the key words "built entirely in Flash" and "for navigating menus and other tasks". Though Macromedia and hotshot designers disagree, I believe using Flash for navigational elements, much less for the entire site, is a pox on the Web. I routinely surf with Flash disabled. Why? Because the majority of obnoxious ads are created with Flash. Flashing (pardon the pun), blinking ads are distracting. I don't want to see them. I won't see them. In fact, if your site uses Flash for anything other than eye candy, I'll leave. Now that's just a personal preference, though it is a hot button. There are other reasons to eschew Flash. While eye-catching, the new site is drawing complaints in online forums, partly because the site won't work with some Web browsers, including Apple's Safari and the increasingly popular Opera browser. No doubt Macromedia and their defenders will respond with "Who cares? Nobody uses those browsers anyway." Obviously, some do. And the number grows daily as surfers divest themselves of bloated browsers laden with never-used features. But compatibility is the red herring in this situation. I've never seen a Flash site that couldn't be presented without animation. Of course, it would look far less snazzy. But who wants glitz when you're trying to locate information? Macromedia has stressed Flash's ability to improve such "usability" issues, but the company's site shows just the opposite, said Hal Pawluk, a Los Angeles advertising consultant. Macromedia doesn't see it that way. Tony Lopez, executive producer at Macromedia, said that while the company's developers are working to improve initial load times for the home page, initial usability tests show the site is doing its job. Improved menu structures and inventive use of Web applications allow customers to complete common tasks--such as downloading software extensions or purchasing products- -much faster. "The initial download might take a little longer, but the process of going through there and finding what you want is a lot faster," Lopez said. "The total experience is much faster." Obviously, he's never tried to use his own site to find real information rather than marketing fluff. Forrester Research has a nice commentary on the flaws in Macromedia's design, summed up by this comment: Instead of devoting two-thirds of the site to a dizzying, animated ad, Macromedia should follow the examples of The New York Times, Lands' End and United Airlines. Their home pages use no-nonsense, multicolumn layouts that immediately dish up key content and function... ...By showing off the flashier features of Flash instead of using the technology to deliver value, Macromedia plays into the hand of its critics. At the same time, recent developments with the company's MX family of Web design tools are too useful to the design community to get sabotaged in this way. Macromedia should go back to the drawing board, kill the gratuitous animation and get product menus out of pop-ups and onto the home page. Those interested in tools which automatically disable Flash, pop-ups, and other distractions should try these: Proxomitron - There is no better filtering tool on any platform. Using its filters can be intimidating but if you stick with the default settings your browsing experience will be immensely better. There are also several user forums with help available, as well as downloadable filters. Unfortunately, Proxo is Windows-only. WebFree is a filter for Mac users. Not as full-featured as Proxo, it still provides a mechansim for filtering ads and content. 9:19:05 AM    Oh yeah? []