Why I Hate Flash
While reading The Cost of Cool I was reminded once again why I hate Flash for web design of informational sites.
Flash is great for entertainment if done right, but most people rarely go to a web site to be entertained. If you want to use Flash for menus, fine. But keep them simple and offer an alternative navagation system. But please don’t use Flash for content you want someone to read.
So far this morning I’ve ran into two sites that might have decent content but the Flash was too distracting for me to tell. (Re: Vector.ize and Superlooper. And take a look at The Double’s website that the article is about.
While some may see my designs as too “plain”, that’s fine by me. I intend for my audience to focus on the content, not the graphics and gizmos. My approach is to treat the content in the same manner you would text in a book or well designed magazine. I try my best to make the content easy to find and easy to read so people can find what they’re looking for and then be on their way. We’re all busy and should strive to make things easier and more timely for one another. And just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Yes, there are some things Flash does very well, but there’s a time and place to use every tool. If you’re wanting to get information out to your audience, Flash probably insn’t the best choice.
I could go on but I’ll leave that for another time. Down from my soapbox…
to torture you…
http://www.larrycarlson.com/
check #32
I think generalizing is what makes this Flash vs HTML thing an eternal pointless battle. Both of the websites you´ve chosen as examples are portraits of badly designed interfaces. That´s not a Flash issue, but a design issue. That could happen in HTML too and it does!…
So Flash is not guilty. Actually is the possibility of a wonderful organization of information like the amazing example i´ll leave here with you.
http://designarchives.aiga.org/
Please, just imagine that blaming a tool is, by no means, the right way to approach to solve bad design.
The design issue is only one aspect of it. There are horrible sites out there using every possible medium (HTML, JavaScript, Flash, etc). With the nature of Flash I would expect to actually see better layouts, but I see so many designers that think it’s a good idea to get artsy and throw usability out of the window.
I have yet to see a site that is Flash driven present content that you’re supposed to read in a decent manner. They often use these little scrolling boxes (similar to how people tend to use frames) that you can’t highlight or print the information. And what text is there isn’t always the easiest to read.
Personally, I detest Flash and refuse to have it install on my browser (Modzilla). Its seem easy to write in, but when I’m browsing and those adds are flashing and making noises I makes me so angry I really want to hit people. Why can’t we just turn off the annoying windows?
Flash wouldn’t be so bad if we, the users, had control over it. Why don’t they think of the consumer?
Companies that have ‘flash only’ web sites, just lose my business.