When I started my adventure into the treacherous world of digital design, I was coaxed in by macromedia flash. Tragically, I don’t have a copy of my first project in flash. It was a university project based upon Flash Gordon, which played quotes from the movie when you clicked on links.
‘Flash, I love you!
But we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!’
Classic.
From then (2003) until I got my first industry position (2006), I developed pretty much all of my sites in flash. Over the last three years, I’ve grown increasingly impatient with flash websites. I find them laggy, irritating to use, and difficult to access the information you visited the site for.
There are exceptions to the rule of course.
Checkland Kindleysides have one of the nicest websites I’ve ever visited, flash or otherwise.
I think the key to this websites success is it’s familiar layout. People don’t like change (just ask Stewie Griffin), and this website’s conventional layout immediately puts the user at ease. The animation is slick, clever, and most importantly, it doesn’t serve to massage the designers ego.
Daniel Mall’s website is a great example of how the subtle use of flash can be really effective. I can’t get enough of how smooth the transition is as you move between different pieces of work. Again, I think the key to his sites success is that the layout is simple and easy to use.
Many sites that are built solely using flash are unpredictable and difficult to use. Which as a visitor, puts me off. The worst offenders are those sites that load a different external swf each time you change page. Each swf is heavier than that guy <<< (is that burger a joke btw?) and when it loads, it doesn’t contain the information you were looking for anyway.
The more sites I develop / use / admire, the more I lean towards well thought out, innovative layouts, which function just as well as they flirt with my eyes. I’ll post a blog at somepoint with some of my favorite websites which fit this criteria.
What do you think? Is there a flash site that you can’t stop clicking because the user experience is so damn good?
