Some Sites are too Flashy

A few years back, Flash intros were all the rage. They may still have place in very specific situations, but now we must consider the experience of websites on mobile devices. The iPhone and iPad don’t play Flash, and most other mobile phones don’t play flash animations. For better or worse, there are still web design businesses out there that push Flash templates. A sad fact is that many restaurants have Flash only sites, meaning that people on an iPhone who quickly want to go to a site to make a reservation, check out a menu, or just get the address are unable to do so. Imagine an interested customer loading your page and seeing the following.

Today there are alternatives to Flash for most applications. For example, we use a Javascript library (jQuery) that allows for easy integration of galleries, slideshows and video. Further, these effects work without the user needing to download any plug-ins; they work on all modern browsers (Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) and works perfectly on mobile devices. Even our old friend IE6 can join the fun. Below is a screenshot of a site still in development that utilizes a beautiful slideshow effect.

Posted in design, Uncategorized, web

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