Re: FLASH: Is internet design with Flash possible? ;-)

[Bob Schmidt]

Robert,


>I teach internet stuff like HTML, JavaScript, VRML...

>Next week I 'll teach Flash and I compare it with internet standards. Some

>function are great but if you use there wrong than you 'll annoy the user.


One of the things we are going to see in 1999 is that Flash will take its

rightful place alongside HTML, Javascript, Java, animated gifs, etc. as a

new Internet Standard. This will happen due to the blessing Flash has

received from Netscape, which will be supporting Flash natively in its

browser, and AOL which has pledged allegiance to low bandwidth hungry

applications like Flash. Both of these major developers of Internet screen

real estate have recognized the inherent appeal and unique info-tainment

characteristics of Flash technology. So, once again, a transformation is

about to take place in Internet standards, Internet technology, and the

user experience.


>I agree with you if you mean animation like an cartoon or a presentation.

>But I mean interaction! The user is here the king and not a overbearing

>designer. A interaction mustn't in the internet have time delay! But see the

>bad examples on the Macromedia side. However this HTML-Code make me

>laughing.

>Maybe my words are a bit to hard but some Flash examples are impolite.


Flash is still new. Aside from those here on this list, there is almost no

such thing as a Flash designer -- yet. So we are seeing a lot of

experimentation and first efforts. This is just the beginning. It would not

be prudent to judge this new entertainment medium only by what is happening

today. We must look ahead with a vision of what is coming next, what is

possible, and not get bogged down in only what is happening so far.


>But no all people like this. Last week I taught the first steps in the

>internet. And a women ask me: "Oh, why must here everything shake? I can't

>read the text!" She means animated gifs. Fortunately now there are some

>tools to stop animated gifs (MS-Explorer 4 can switch off the animation) and

>banner advertising. I think the user has to decide what he would like to

>use. Maybe there will be tools to switch off the Flash-Player next. The

>issue is not Flash. It is bad design.


It may be bad design in terms of the old medium -- in this case HTML. But

that is like saying that web pages suck because they don't look as good as

the printed page. Flash is not just a web page in a different file format.

It is a whole new medium. Like McLuhan said, The medium is the massage. He

also said that all new media are initially perceived in terms of the old

media. Thus we talk of web "pages" (when we know they are really files). We

will see the world in new ways through the Flash window. I like to say that

having a web site is like having your own TV channel -- with all that

implies. Having a Flash site is like having your own movie studio, with all

that implies.


>Please see the difference between your audience and the internet user. The

>problem is the payer of the internet sides are different to the surfers they

>are looking for information in the internet. The internet sides of big firms

>are often bad and with faults. The hits are very little. But the price was

>very high :-). Maybe in Germany it is a bigger problem than in the USA.


But the user is an Internet user one minute, a regular old Joe the next. He

is the same person who watches tv, goes to the movies, listens to the

radio, buys CDs, Cokes, and gets up in the morning and goes to work every

day. The Internet user's expectations have changed as Internet technology

has evolved. It wasn't that long ago that Internet users were pooh-poohing

the web as the end of the Internet. And, of course, it *was* the end of the

Internet as they knew it. But as that Internet died, a new Internet was

born that has attracted 10's of millions of new Internet users in ways that

the old Internet never could. So it will be with Flash, at least many of us

think it is reasonable to believe so.


Bob Schmidt

Author, The Geek's Guide to Internet Business Success

Published by John Wiley & Sons

The First Book to Address the Business Side of the Web Design Business

www.provider.com/geeksguide




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