Quick Flash Survey - 2 Questions

estimated time - 30 seconds

[sean orourke]

1. Generally, what are your feeling towards Flash?
(love, like, neutral, dislike, hate, love/hate)

the one I'm really curious about...
2. What portion of the sites you visit daily are Flash sites?
(all, most, many, some, few, none)

[Xoc]

I cannot get into the Kenneth Cole site. It complained about me not having cookies turn on.

So I turned on cookies. It still forwarded me to a page where it complained about cookies not being turned on.

That is stellar web design. Not.

I think they are complaining about one of my other security settings, but I'll never know, because they've wasted about 3 minutes of my life that I can't get back trying to get into their site. I won't ever try again.

Sale lost. One of the worst examples of web sites that suck.

[tedster]

I did just check out KennethCole.com (with NN 4.7 because it's so buggy) -- nice looking, easy navigation.

But then it hits me -- I can't bookmark a thing!

[chiyo]

1. flash seems best for sites that dont change much or you dont need to get anywhere in a hurry. i've seen some nice quick flash downloads within mainly html sites that dont seem inconveneinet at all.

At the moment, it seems flash is used in sites that are mainly advertising, or are not looking for return visitors

2. I dont visit any flash sites regularly. If it takes more than 10 secs to load something i click on the back button. If it has the "skip intro" i do that.

[grnidone]

>But then it hits me -- I can't bookmark a thing!

That is a huge concern that I never even thought of!

That is such a good reason to get rid of flash...people LIKE TO BOOKMARK!

-G

[tedster]

In the case of an online clothing shop, how can I email my sweetheart and say "Here's a jacket I really like, and you know my birthday's coming up, hint, hint."

It's got to hurt sales to have their entire site in Flash.

[bob dobolina]

1). I hate Flash. More than anything. It's intrusive, unneccessary, and wastes bandwidth. Ever notice that there's almost no Flash on Macromedia's site? That says all I need to hear on the subject of Flash. The only people I know who think it's great are designers who have discovered that it's a good buzzword to use when they want to raise their rates. Spend your time learning XML, ASP, Perl - something useful.

Here's a funny story: I was at the library one day when two guys came racing in and got on the computer next to me. They were very excited. One of them typed in a URL and they waited. And waited. (They had obviously designed a fairly major site - I think it was for GM - Chevy trucks or something). Finally, I heard one of the guys say, "It's not coming up!" The other guy said, "They don't have Flash installed!" The first guy said, "Let's get it!" They tried to download and install Flash, but the Admin had disabled it. So they complained to a librarian. :) On their way out the door, I said, "Looks like you guys have a lot of work to do." One of them flipped me off. :)

2). If a page defaults to HTML, fine - I'll skip the Flash. But if the default is Flash, I'll most likely leave and never come back. I hate technology that serves no purpose except to create a market for itself.

[Woz]

Hi bob_dobolina, Welcome to WebmasterWorld,

good point about the Macromedia site! I guess Flash is a tool that has its uses and abuses like any other tool. I tend to retreat from long loading flash sites as well, but then I am also very impressed with some of the well though out uses of Flash as a component within a site as a whole.

I guess the trick is, as you say, use of the technology for added value and the likes rather than because we can.

hope you enjoy Webmasterworld, join in....

Onya
Woz

[Marshall]

Flash is a gimmick which is easily abused. I haven't visited it in a while, but when Pittsburgh Tourist Bureau launched its web site, it was entirely flash with no alternative. I don't visit flash sites on a regular basis for the same reason mostly everyone cited - why wait for the downloads. There are, however, good uses for Flash - www.doubtlessdesigns.net - is one example. It can also be used as an educational tool. I'm sorry I forgot the URL, but there's a map history site that uses flash to show the changes in state borders as the United States grew. It was actually pretty neat, but once you've seen it... I downloaded a 30 day trial last summer, but never got around to trying it. Too busy doing "normal" designs. My bottom line opinion is that it does boil down to "Hey! Look what I can do."

[Marcia]

>>1. Generally, what are your feeling towards Flash?
(love, like, neutral, dislike, hate, love/hate)

I thoroughly despise Flash.

>>the one I'm really curious about...
>>2. What portion of the sites you visit daily are Flash sites?
(all, most, many, some, few, none)

Zero, zilch. Before one loads, I am gone. I loathe Flash.

There! 30 seconds, shortest post I've ever done.

[Marshall]

Marcia,

Could you be more precise - do you or don't or like Flash? ;)

[Eric_Jarvis]

I think Flash is wonderful...I think the way it is usually used is utterly appalling...it is totally useless as a means of providing an intro page...it is excellent as a "presentation" medium

I tend to avoid sites that use a Flash intro or are entirely Flash based...not on any sort of principle but mostly because they nearly all have something that irritates me to hell within the first ten seconds...usually because I'm sitting around waiting for somebody to show off

---

Part Two: [webmasterworld.com...]