Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) was finally revealed to the public through an event named “Beauty of the Web.” Only available for BETA download to Windows 7 and Vista users (Sorry MAC and Linux fans!), IE9 introduces new features for customers as well as developers who want to take full advantage of their computing power while staying up-to-date with the most modern web standards.

To explore and discuss Microsoft’s new browser, I turned to our very own Steve Hering, Art Director and table tennis champion of the office, to hear his thoughts. My first impressions on IE9 were soon changed as we got away from the finer details of the browser and focused on the big picture of this [beta] release:

One of the quotes from Beauty of the Web claims “IE9 will change the web forever.” Do you agree?

No. One browser will not be able to affect the web forever. As the “browser wars” continue pushing the envelope, we will only see features and the languages behind those features being pushed as well.

Do you foresee the release of IE9 changing your day-to-day designing and developing?

I really don’t see this changing my day-to-day — at least not yet. When it comes down to it, the adoption rate of IE9 will determine those changes, just as different browser functionalities do now.

Will the introduction of these new technologies being utilized together (IE9, HTML5, CSS3, etc) kill off Flash?

People make the assumption that Flash won’t evolve, but the reality is that it will. I don’t know when that will be, but I don’t think Flash will ever be gone. I think there will always be a place for it. The experience that Flash can give you is one that we cannot quite replicate yet. Currently, there are some web browsing experiences we cannot implement effectively across all browsers, but that is definitely changing. Until we have a broad support for CSS3 and HTML5, however, Flash will continue to be used to get the same result across every browser.

What is your opinion on Microsoft’s decision to roll out IE9 in this fashion?

Here’s the part that annoys me. It will take years to adopt IE9 and right now, in order to run IE9 you have to install Windows 7 or Vista! That is Microsoft right there! They are playing catch up with the rest of the browsers. Finally! IE9 isn’t doing anything drastic compared to the efforts of Chrome or Firefox. I don’t see them doing anything groundbreaking here.

Steve raises some very important points to consider when judging the impact and relevance of new technologies introduced to us. Big picture questions should always be considered. It is very easy to get caught up in flashy features, animated intros and fancy notifications, but our focus should not simply be how to integrate these new technologies into the existing design landscape, but rather how to push all of these pieces forward in a synergistic way — one that ultimately results in a web experience unlike anything we’ve seen before. Microsoft’s move towards these newer technologies is important, given how big a player they are in the market. Let’s just hope, now that they’re catching up, that they can innovate at a pace alongside the rest of the market. They’ll never embrace a fully open-source philosophy, but we’d all benefit if all market players took in the big picture.

The questions about Flash’s future are particularly important to xiik — we have discussed and detailed our stance about it in a previous blog post. If you notice the comments below that article, it is obvious this is a heated topic 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 than the entire site.”

Do you think that’s true? We’re always open to shifting our stance on technologies if the facts on the ground have changed. What’s your take on the big picture? What immediate and long-term impacts will Microsoft’s IE9 have on Flash and the industry as a whole?

There are a few disagreements that I’ve still got.  First, in addition to the iPhone not displaying Flash, other popular phones including Windows Mobile Devices and Palm also will not display properly either.  Second, while iPhone controls only 1.1% of the total market share for ALL cellular devices, depending on who you ask, it controls 16-30% of the market for SmartPhones, meaning that as many as 1 in 3 of the phones built for browsing can’t see your Flash-based website.  

Nike.com is a great site.  You could not have accomplished the same WOW factor in HTML.  However, Endless.com is also an amazing e-commerce shoe site.  My personal opinion is that Endless is easier to use.  The navigation is immediate, the interface is familiar and the back button takes me back one page, rather than back to the beginning.

I’d also say that if you’re going to use Flash, use it!  Why can I zoom in on the details of the shoe on Endless, a non-Flash site, and not on Nike?  As I said in the previous posting, use Flash to add value, not just for kicks.  It’s definitely slower to load and usually less intuitive than HTML counterparts, so make sure that you are adding value other than just  ”pretty”. 

Before finishing with Nike, I’d also say that this site would fall more into the Portfolio category that I mentioned was still okay for Flash sites.  It is, afterall, a portfolio of their shoes, in the same way that we produced several all-flash art/exhibit portfolios for the Indiana State Museum.  Notice that when you go to Nike’s Corporate Site (also an awesome site), you can do a quick run-through without finding a stitch of Flash.

It’s a disagreement between several developers and the conversation will likely go on.  From our viewpoint, Flash is becoming more popular, but as an element, rather than the entire site.  I don’t see a day soon when we’ll see a significant percentage of corporate sites moving to all-Flash.  However, we’ll keep our ears and eyes out and if that’s what their users demand, we xiik geeks will be among the first agencies to change course and lead our clients that way.  I think that the overall lesson is “know thy audience.”

Thank you again, Mark, for sparking such an interesting discussion!

There was a period of time when Flash first came out that everybody jumped on the bandwagon and decided to (over)use it.  Similar to how frames and blinking text could be found on every site built in 1998, Flash was huge soon thereafter.  Then came the sudden slowdown as people realized incompatability issues – your users had to download a Flash Player to display Flash on your site – and that the load times were really bad for dialup users.  Unfortunately, this only slowed the overabundance of Flash sites briefly, as the newest versions of each browser came with Flash pre-installed and cable modems/DSL became more prevalent.

Fast-forward 8-10 years.  Now Flash is everywhere, again.  The trendiest places, especially restaurants, bars and music venues want to go all-Flash because things move and there are pictures and it’s interactive and it’s just…”wow”.  Somewhere along the way web designers united in giving up function for form.

What’s wrong with Flash sites?  Well, picture yourself at a social event (as I was last Thursday) at 10pm, trying to decide if you are going to walk 3 blocks down the street in negative temperatures to grab food at the hot new restaurant, Forty-Five Degrees.  Unfortunately, you can’t remember if they stop serving at 10 or 11pm.  Never fear – you pull out your trusty iPhone, type in the URL (http://www.fortyfiveindy.com).  To your surprise, you don’t pull up a hot and trendy website but, instead, receive dreaded blue box, indicating that the site is in Flash and cannot be viewed on mobile devices.  The owner of this establishment would not be delighted to know that he has now paid a lot for a site that has not reached his prospective customer – whom I’m sure would think it was lovely if they could actually see it – but, instead, has annoyed said customer to the point of PG-13 language.

Besides being completely unusable on most mobile devices, many find the sites annoying even on PCs.  Most users want to go to a site, find what they are looking for and move on.  This becomes difficult when they have to watch the site animate into a pretty picture, as I did this afternoon while waiting for http://www.scholarsinn.com/ to draw itself, wondering why they decided it was okay to waste my time.  Not to mention the near heart-attack it gave me when the music started playing (but we’ll save that for another blog).

Flash can still be used for portfolio sites, sites for kids or sites that should be interactive.  But if you’re trying to give people information like, say, your hours of operations, DON’T USE FLASH!  Already got a Flash site?  Simple fix – add your phone number, address and hours of operation to the bottom of every page of your website in HTML.  That way, even if they can’t see the pretty site you built for them, you at least won’t lose the customer.

And while the soapbox is still planted firmly beneath my feet, I’d also like to say that Flash intros are a HUGE no-no.  Nobody has the time or desire to wait for an intro to play.  In fact, every client we’ve worked with who requested it admitted that they always click the “Skip” button.  Don’t waste your money.  Spend it on things that the customer will appreciate and use.

Got questions?  Give us a call – 888.900.XIIK or visit us online at http://www.xiik.com

UPDATE:  Since the initial posting, 45 Degrees has changed their website from full-Flash to a hybrid (HTML with a really cool Flash component).  I doubt that this blog posting had anything to do with that, nor do I know what the reasons were behind the change.  However, I wanted to make sure that was clear that I was referring to their old site.  Not the new one.