RE: FLASH: Flash Player 5

[Tom Kerwin]

The download page - that is horrific usability if ever I saw it. If anyone

from Macromedia's reading...


A niggling thing for me is that they insist on using the graphic for the

"Click Here to Install/ Autoinstall now" button so it doesn't show up until

after you've read past it. I do indeed want to be able to autoinstall NOW,

not in a few moments, by which time I'm hunting around on step 3 anyway.

Many's the time when I've loaded up the license terms cause I'm trying to

"click to begin the installation", and it's not like I'm a web muppet or

first timer to the page.


And how are the steps they show any kind of logical progression? How can it

be a good first impression of what is quite a usable product to provide such

an un-usable download interface?


Please Macromedia, give our users a nice install page...





-----Original Message-----

From: Randy Kato [

rkatobraincraft [dot] com (mailto:rkatobraincraft [dot] com)

]

Sent: 04 August 2000 15:44

To:

flasherchinwag [dot] com

Subject: Re: FLASH: Flash Player 5



I can't believe people are missing the point so much here. Brad, you're much

too

generous in your assumption of the knowledge level of "most people." We're

not

talking about developers here, we're talking about people like my Mom who

has no

idea what a Beta is, or what a Plugin is for that matter. People like this

who

don't have the plugin automatically get sent to this page

(http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=Shoc

kwaveFlash)

- take a look at it! To someone with no knowledge of this stuff what plugin

do

you think they're going to wind up with?


Yes, an open beta is a great way to iron out all the bugs in a plugin, but

it

should be made available ONLY to the developer community -- the people who

know

what to look for and who will notice if something isn't working properly.

People

who will take the time to (and know how to) inform MM of bugs. My mom would

not,

and could not do this, yet if I hadn't made her download the Flash4 plugin

before the 5 beta was posted, she most likely would have ended up with the 5

beta, and sites may not work for her, and then she'll go around badmouthing

this

newfangled Flash thing to all her friends and....


We develop in Flash. If Joe Surfer gets a plugin that is faulty simply

because

he was following directions on a page he was automatically redirected to,

and

then has problems with one of our client's sites...it's bad. Bad for Joe

Surfer.

Bad for our client's reputation. Bad for the developer's reputation. Bad for

Macromedia. Bad for Flash.


I hope the next time you check the above URL, this message will be moot.


-Randy



Brad Merritt wrote:


> I think most people know what beta means and the risks involved with beta

> products.

> I for one would rather use the product as much as possible in beta to

avoid

> bugs in the final version. I actually think that MM should be a bit more

> open with its betas due to the fact they have so many loyal developers. I

> think everyone on the list would be happy to use a beta product if that

> meant that you would not run into a bug while you are in the middle of a

big

> client project.

>

> If you run into a problem you merely inform MM and keep trying to break

that

> beta. If you ruin into a real problem with a client project, etc. That's

> your fault for misusing a beta product. I am having MAJOR problems with my

> movies not working with the F5 player, but the solution is trying to work

> with MM to iron them out, not complain on this list.

>

> So anyone from MM is reading these posts, keep the beta testing open in

the

> future. It means less problems for all of us down the line.

>

> brad


--

'''''' ' '  '  '   '    '     '      '        '

Randy Kato - Web Master

Braincraft


627 Broadway, Suite 504, NYC 10012

T 212.539.1680   F 212.539.1741

http://www.braincraft.com

...... . .  .  .   .    .     .      .        .




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