Looking for 1st Contract - help

[martinb]

I agree with others on use of Flash. 90% of the time I'll not even bother viewing a site for the simple reason it uses Flash. To my mind the fancy graphics simply distract the user from the content. (I found the drawing of the green lines particularly irritating).

Whilst not suggesting this is necessarily true of your site, very often Flash sites are a triumph of design at the expense of content and useability.

[DaveB]

Flash intros are somthing I always skip, unless it's part of the reson I went to the site in the first place - Promo for a new game or a movie clip for example. Otherwise I dont bother. Flash for spot animations such as menu rollovers etc are fine in my opinion but the actual content should always be clear, concise and fast to obtain.

PS I cant even see your site as I dont have the latest and greatest version of Flash installed. Corporate issue PC, doesnt have flash installed and wont let me install it either. As far as I am concerned you site may as well not exist.

[Lucifer Box]

FWIW I think that's a very nicely done site, and I don't understand the resistance to Flash. Well I do, because Flash generally means marketing waffle rather than actual facts, but more often than not that's what you see on company websites anyway.

Because as DaveB says, only in rare occasions have I gone to a site to watch a flash animation. My browser's setting block flash and I suspect that is far from unusual. You are losing viewers straight away.

[VectraMan]

Because as DaveB says, only in rare occasions have I gone to a site to watch a flash animation. My browser's setting block flash and I suspect that is far from unusual. You are losing viewers straight away.

That's a chicken and the egg thing though. One of the problems Flash has is that people think it's a pointless "animation" that they skip, and then go onto the actual content. If the content was in Flash then you'd be missing out if you blocked it.

If a popular site like for example BBC News was done in Flash rather than HTML, would people boycott it on mass because it was Flash? I don't think so. However they might boycott it on mass if it was all fancy graphics and no content, but that's a different issue. At the end of the day, the tool used shouldn't matter to the end user, only the result.

[NewBoy]

What sort of retail position are you looking for? In IT at all? I'm placed at one at the mo....

I cover pretty much all areas of Retail but in particular I guess I am looking at Programme Management of system implementations. I have previously managed EPoS deployments etc and managed the entire project portfolio of a Retail Business (Vodafone).

I am Retail rather than IT but can manage systems programms. Any assistance getting me an 'in' would be great and much appreciated.

[Lucifer Box]

At the end of the day, the tool used shouldn't matter to the end user, only the result.

But it does and there's little point fighting that battle as a matter of principle. Unless, of course, you're happy to watch all your potential customers pass on by without stopping.

[Denny]

But it does and there's little point fighting that battle as a matter of principle. Unless, of course, you're happy to watch all your potential customers pass on by without stopping.

Web pages should be similar to newspapers not the TV as far as I'm concerned. Like many others on here I can't be bothered looking at fancy animated introductions to sites. The site pages often take longer to download too whichis annoying and the flash content is usually meaningless drivvel that I could well do without. I've got better things to do with my time that stroke the egos of advanced graphic designers who are only out to show off their web design skills. All I'm interested in is good relevant and well written up-to-date content. The more boring and simple the website the better I like it.

[Lucifer Box]

I agree with Denny.

[boredsenseless]

I agree with Denny.

Me too - which is rare

[expat]

I agree with Denny.

Me too. The whole point of the medium is that I browse for what I want.

And I agree with DaveB: many users will just not be able to install the latest, or even any, version of Flash, even if they are inclined to. At home I can, but I'm not inclined to. I've got a browser: if someone wants me to download and install more than that, I'd like to know a good reason why first. If I find that I need to do so in order to view a site at all, I start to ask who it's for: me or the designer. If I'm blocked right out of a site for want of the flashy new tools that will let the web designer send me a TV programme, I'll remember with distaste both that site and that product for a long time.