Re: Flash Crawls

[Craig Ferrante]

Colin Moock wrote:


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 it means doing focus groups and surveys to get a sense of how outdated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

>


       Hi Colin,

              Yes that explaination helped me out quite a bit.Especially the

VW  Rabbit

         analogy, I can relate to that.This question about Flash performance

has really

         been bugging me the last few days wondering how accessible animated

sites

         are to most people.I've been to the levi site and like the look and

design of it

         alot,great work. We used to have a computer store not to long ago

and sold it

         last year. You would'nt believe the computers people used to bring

in for service

         even 386's and they wanted to load Windows95.....oh my god!these

people

         were really serious. Anyway this was the general public mentality

,if their computers

         were cars 80% of our customers drove Hugo's.Very happy that business

is over-

         but those people our still out there and I just know they are trying

to run Flash

         its actually a very funny thought I can see them banging and cursing

their computers,

         "Hey you put a modem in my computer now my toilet won't flush!"I

still have nightmares.

          I will start toning down my flash animations and think about what

you said -


         Thanks for insight

         Craig Ferrante

         meanrabbit.com


> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>





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