Comments on: Flash Corporate Sites Dead?

By: sharelord1

sharelord1 — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 07:12:16 +0000

Hi I read all your blogs. These all are fantastic and very helpful to me. July 2011 blog “How to Choose a Brand Name” is very nice.

By: Explore a more beautiful web (without Flash?) « xiik

Explore a more beautiful web (without Flash?) « xiik — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 21:55:54 +0000

[...] of debate — as it rightfully should be. So, we discussed our thoughts in even more detail in a follow up blog, which could then be summed up as: “Flash is becoming more popular, but as an element, rather [...]

By: Flash designer

Flash designer — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:50:24 +0000

Flash is not dead. It is the question of time. Nowadays people prefer to find more cheap solutions.

By: ickydime

ickydime — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:28:05 +0000

Xiik, thanks for the kind words and friendly debate.

I agree that sites need to have an alternative HTML block for non-flash users. However, that is not a reason for not using Flash, as your first article suggested.

As for Nike and Endless… I agree with Chris on this one that Nike stands out and will draw people back. Endless may be familiar, but it is also boring. With proper user interface design and good optimization techniques you should have a better navigation in Flash than HTML. Plus, the back button works just fine on Nike (as Anon pointed out). All you need to do is use swfAddress during development and you are good to go.

As far as zooming in on the details of the shoe… that is just a personal decision that Endless chose and Nike did not. Personally I don’t see the value of it… I don’t need to zoom in on the big toe . I would much rather interact with a Flash 360 spin that many Flash shops use.

Your point about the Nike site being more of a portfolio is valid. With that in mind then, shouldn’t almost all corporations selling a product or service treat their website as a portfolio? They should allow users to experience and interact with their products… not just read about them. Sure, post your corporate earnings in a PDF for the accountants to read, but if you want to engage your customers, keep them on your site, and give them something of value… then you should strongly consider Flash as your platform.

If your corporation’s only goal is to allow the user to find your phone number and address… then sure, slap a phone number on a page and be sure to place a large logo in the top left and then call it a day.

But if your corporation wants to provide an experience and give users something of value… something more than they can find on google maps… then I would suggest looking into Flash.

Again. I enjoy the debate and respect your opinion. Thanks for bringing up the topic.

By: chris

chris — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:05:11 +0000

I think that every site is developed with a certain goal in mind. Both the nike and the endless site probably reached that goal. Both are easy to use, one with flash and one without. Nike stands out from the crowd, the other seems like the average “proven concept” webshop. To me the Nike site has a wow-factor that will make me come back and the endless site hasn’t. But that’s personal because I don’t shop for shoes online…

Both sites serve their purpose and I think that is what matters and not the techniques behind it.

As far as the iphone goes we have to remember that it is the first phone by Apple and though it is beautiful, intuitive, etc it is 2 years old (OK there is a 3G version but that is more like iphone 1.1). It was the phone that made browsing full websites possible, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. It can be improved. And I think it won’t be long until we see the new next gen “now with flash” iphone.

But even when flash is all around, there should always be a very simple backup-site just in case. Though that goes for all technologies.

By: xiik

xiik — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:14:10 +0000

Great comment! It’s all about personal preferences. I honestly would’ve preferred if Endless.com had used Flash instead of AJAX for that component. Most good web firms QA (Quality Assure) for web browsers that have less than 5% of market share because accessibility is very important. Even if other smartphones ship with Flash, if the iPhone doesn’t (and may never) recognize Flash, with 16-30% of the smartphone market (and growing), that’s a huge segment to just ignore. Why not compromise with a non-Flash version for those folks?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:48:37 +0000

Hmm… You should have really used endless before you used them as your weapon against the dreaded flash sites… I found the site sluggish, and o yeah, the back button took me back to the beginning of the site once I started filtering. It seems as those little AJAX applications have the same nuances that flash sites can have. Btw, you can code for these things on both platforms.

My overall feeling is you really haven’t done your research, and decided to start a conversation based on apple’s decsion to leave flash out. Adobe has also announced that within a year or so, smart phones will be shipping with a full version of flash 10. So yeah, flash is only growing, not dying. Cheers!