Re: AW: FLASH: I'm looking for good Flash examples

[Marc Hoffman]

I'll add my thoughts to this thread, because it concerns basic issues and

principles of information design.


First, I want to agree with Robert Warnke that a lot of web design (Flash,

Director, and other media) wastes the user's time.  I see lots of  Flash

design that is cute (or boring) rather than functional, and it seems in

those cases that the designer is using Flash as a toy rather than as a

tool. I am guilty of this at times -- there's a great temptation (sometimes

pressure from the client, too) to add clutter because it seems cool, when

in fact it slows things down.


But there is a dilemma to any information design that I think Robert is

ignoring.  There will ALWAYS be a time delay between the request for

information and the response.  Formulate a question.  Find the right book.

Look in the index. Turn to the right page. Scan for the information you

need. Go somewhere for more details.  There's always some delay.


The web sometimes gives the appearance or promise of instant gratification,

but it is always an illusion. There is always download time to contend

with, and as the data stream gets faster, everyone wants to use it to

stream bigger blocks of data.  I don't see this changing anytime soon.


Web design options are limited: 1) download everything first, forcing the

user to wait a long time (advantage: once the wait is over, everything is

quickly accessible); 2) download in user-requested blocks (more waiting,

but it's broken up into shorter durations); 3) stream the information

(something's always accessible, but it's not always what's most important

to the user).  A great advantage of Flash is that it allows all three of

these options, and it is then up to the designer to find the right balance.

The designer could design many versions of the same site and let the user

choose, but that would be costly and the user might not have the time or

experience to make good choices.


There is also the issue of different learning styles.  Some users want the

information in text only, others benefit from visual or audio elements.

Some like humor, some don't want to be bothered. These are designer issues.

 In the end, different sites will appeal to different users.


A lot of the discussion in this group has to do with streamlining Flash

presentations: building smarter interfaces, adding preload sequences that

are meaningful and transparent, reducing file size while preserving

esthetics, etc.  I think Robert's comments are a valuable reminder to

developers, because he's advocating from the user's perspective.  Yes, he's

being  unrealistic in demanding content that is 100% user-controlled AND

100% instantaneous.  But, you, know, a lot of users are totally

unrealistic, and the user is the ultimate judge of whether our work .







Marc Hoffman

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