Re: FLASH:SITE CHECK -for Ken and Pascal

[Tom Green]

unique wrote:

<snip>


>

> >  Tom: I appreciate CONSTRUCTIVE critisisme but I do *not" really

> >understand your

> >  comment: What do you mean by a "Aren't I clever!" Flash site."? I have almost

> >  no programming experience and Flash is the first time ever I was

> >confronted by

> >  scripting (and there sure ain't a lot of it in my swf :-))


Really not concerned with scripting.


>

>

> I agree ... Tom's comments were antagonistic and lacked compassion.

> Perhaps he will be willing to rephrase his commentary into terms of

> constructive criticism ... as if you were one of his students. He's a

> good guy, ya just caught him in a mood.

>

> HTH,

>

> Ken Sherwood


Ok, guys, maybe I was cranky or feeling a mite peckish but I still came away from

it ( after a second looksee ) with a sense of "so what?".

I hope ,Pascal, that you don't get too upset but I still came away unimpressed.


The icons are non-intuitive and a couple are redundant. You have an icon for email

(letter) and an icon for Contact (microphone). Apart from the fact the icons ,

other than Info and email don't work, am I to assume I can contact the company

using either email and my plain talk microphone? I don't think so.


The way the icons just seem to fall  from "space" into their final resting place is

relatively common and is a technique that was beat to death in the early days.  I

had to wait how long for that? And what's with the big white flash as the stage

expands and contracts into position?


Also , when I click the info icon from the mail icon nothing happens. To make it

work I have to suffer through that long preload to go back to the info screen. The

navigation is simply horrendous.


When I get the info button to work a button bar appears at the top of the text and

it is a game of chance as to which ones work and which don't. They are all hot.

When I did get one on the bar to work ( on the far left) it lit up right beside a

hollow one about four buttons over to the left. Then nothing happened.


In the info area I get a mix of German and English. Did anyone consider the fact

there just might be english guys (Consider a couple of good ol' boys  from the deep

south, or Les Gars from Quebec's Eastern township)  who can't read German and I

would bet there are a bunch of German guys who can't read the english.


The interface, therefore is broken, difficult to navigate and non-intuitive.


As I would ask one of my students: Did you test this thing before submitting it?


My assessment? Lot's of technique but no content. These are the sites that everyone

seems to think are oh so cool and trés chic. They aren't and I am really getting

tired of people "fawning" over the developers. They are nothing more than a Flash

artist showing the world how clever he or she is and sacrificing the client's needs

and expectations for accolades. Balancing technique with content is an art and you

would do well to study how such sites as etalent .com or even hillmancurtis achieve

that balance with great success.


Frankly, if this is the level of this company's competency and service, they have

just written a prescription for serious financial difficulty. I don't know the

company from a hole in the wall, and I have already started forming a negative

opion of its ability to meet my needs. How many people are on the web? How many

would visit the site? How many would sit through the preload? How many would

merrily click through the buttons? After that how many would retain your services?

Dimishing returns in spades.


Now go to the two sites I mentioned earlier and ask yourself the same questions

when you look at them.









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