Re: Flash Crawls

[Colin Moock]

When developing the Levi's website, speed and bandwidth were a big

concern. We wanted to push the limits while remaining accessible. I

actually did a lot of testing on a 486. I think our design limit (on

486) for us was exactly what you described: the experience could be

"*almost* unacceptable". Which means, yeah, the thing plays--it MUST do

that--but it's really painful to watch. The rationale behind that is if

the user has an 8bit sound card, 12MB of RAM, and a 1 MB video card,

they're likely used to what we think of as very low quality. So what we

see as painful, they see as standard (ie. they don't know what they're

missing).


That said, our standard was also that the site had to be very usable on

P166 level computers. Those users are not used to really lame

performance...they're used to decent overall home use. 


The numbers (p166, 486, p400) will change, but what's important is the

user's perception.  A rule of thumb for us is to keep the user from

feeling that our site/product is causing problems. In some cases, that

simply means clearly stating system requirements up front. In others,

it means doing focus groups and surveys to get a sense of how outdated

the user's technology needs to be before they start accepting their

lower performance. It's just like I blame the age of my 1981 Diesel VW

Rabbit for not breaking 60 mph on the freeway...I put up with it pretty

happily. *But* if I suddenly found myself on a super-speed highway

without any signs to warn me about it, I'd be angry at the road

architects.


Hope that helps a bit...


-Colin

flashershocker [dot] com

,Internet writes:

>     I've recently stopped and tested different flash sites on different

>computer systems

>and was wondering if I could get some feedback on Flash performance.I

>tested many sites including Gabocorp,SmashingIdeas and so on etc. and

>noticed on any machine

>below a pentium 166 Flash performance is almost unacceptable and

>unbearable.Don't

>get me wrong I think Flash3 is great and I am enjoying learning its many

>features and

>capabilities.The question is I don't see many sites with recommended

>requirements

>for processor speed,memory,etc. Are there any guidelines that developers

>here

>use to gauge site performance? -And are there any system requirement

>guidelines

>from macromedia that can be posted on the site? After doing some

>research its amazing

>how many people still have not upgraded their computers even with prices

>so low.

>Just wondering how some of you think about this during sites your

>developing.

>Is the cost of Flash admission Pentium200 or higher?


>Thanks in Advance

>Curious Craig Ferrante

>meanrabbit.com


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