Re: FLASH: RE: Macs and market share Question

[Frederico]

On 7/12/1999 2:12 AM, Kevin Jackson via

kjacksontriskelian [dot] com

, said:


>Does it really make any sense to design for the MAC viewer? Your cost

>benefit ratio would have to be off the planet...

>I ask the question because I would have a tough time (if the numbers are

>accurate) telling a customer that it makes economic sense to even consider

>designing for a MAC or any MAC related issues. If FLASH had an installed

>base of 2% we'd be nuts to use it.

>If the numbers were reversed can any MAC user tell me they would design for

>the PC? Thier is a huge preponderance of PC users  and it's hard to get

>someone on a MAC to even name their files for PC use, so I doubt it.


Hi, just a pro developer here, using primarily Macs, and I have to answer 

truthfully, yes, to the above question. Perhaps our firm is an exception, 

but we have made a fine living understanding and conquering the 

multi-platform/browser issues, and it simply isn't as big a deal as some 

of the more whiny developers here and elsewhere would like to make out. 

Designing for Mac in general is far less expensive than designing for AOL 

and WebTV issues, and even though the latter is in another alleged 2% 

minority, you simply have to account for demographics and how it applies 

to your product when designing your site.


WebTV people tend to have disposable income, as do Mac owners. For the 

extra $100-900 (depending on number of pages) average per HTML-based site 

revision it takes to account for each of these platforms, all you need is 

a relatively small percentage of your gross to make up for the costs, and 

a Flash-based site modification for Mac IE 4.x is a one-time-cost that 

can be cut'n'pasted form there on.  And, remember, a sale isn't the only 

thing you want your customer to bring you; a good experience and good 

word of mouth is more valuable to you than a single sale.


Just imagine your website is your physical storefront. Are you 

comfortable excluding access to your point of sale because of a handicap 

someone might have (let's ignore the legality for the moment)? Not that I 

care to think of the Mac as a handicap, but a poorly designed Microsoft 

product (IE4.x) is as good as one, despite the quality of the Mac itself. 

Are you prepared to tell someone with a walker or wheelchair to go away, 

that you don't have the time to build a ramp so that they can patronize 

your store? I would like to think not, and I'd also like to remind you 

that the Mac is a very popular choice for computer amongst actual 

handicapped persons, given its ease of use and high-handicapped software 

availability. Even if you determine that the cost of goods and net profit 

you make would be too badly damaged by the cost of handicapped access, 

you have to factor in the bad faith impression you are going to incur, as 

none of these patrons is likely to recommend your site to others.


As others have noted, Macs cost more, and it is pretty easy without 

access to genuine demographics to infer that people willing to pay more 

for their computers have more money to spend in general, and, personally, 

I think you're fool not to accommodate over 1 million iMacs alone (most 

bought almost exclusively for the purpose of web surfing), not to mention 

the millions of other Mac models in service and on the Web.  Be it 2% or 

14% of total numbers, I don't give a crap, I pay attention to the actual 

number of units shipped and in use in the last 24-36 months for *every* 

platform, and that number, to me, when combined with the associated 

income levels and spending habits, is more than enough to design for Mac 

and WebTV, despite their alleged minority status.


And, let's get back to the reality here: Is it the Mac that's the 

problem, or is it Internet Exploder? With Flash, it's certainly just IE, 

as Netscape does just fine, even accounting for font issues on poorly 

designed, non-CSS sites. That leaves you, as a Flash designer, with 

whether or not is is worth your time to apply an hour's worth of 

cut'n'paste Javascript to each site to allow IE 4.x Mac users to see your 

SWFs (ferkrissakes, it's not like you have to make an entirely different 

SWF for each browser). If you can't justify that minimal cost to your 

client, then I suggest your client is either selling gumballs or PC-only 

products and doesn't care, or has chosen the wrong web developer to begin 

with.


Frederico


~Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans.~


                       --John Lennon



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