[thelist] more views: pop-up windows, Rich Media ads

[Erika Meyer]

nk, you are right.  I think a little bit of media-whiz done 
intelligently is okay, but it seems to be hard for people to stop.

I just noticed you said, 'ads.'  You mean banner ads?  I think they 
all suck, and when I see a cheezy ad-ful site, I tend to click myself 
out ASAP.

I haven't seen Java done well much... my favorite use of Java on the 
web is the instant chat... there is one on dice.com... where you can 
click a link & get an IM style window where a live person is waiting 
at the other end, ready to solve all your problems...but the human is 
the key factor here.

Javascript rollovers can help text links stand out...pop-up 
windows... be careful!  Jakob Nielson (useit.com) and the W3C both 
frown on them.

DHTML... aargh.  I just went to a software site using NN-only DHTML. 
The only problem was, it crashed my browser (NN).  Shall I say I 
didn't buy their product?

Here are some Flash Usability references off the top of my head:


dack.com -- flash vs. html: a usability test
http://www.dack.com/web/flashVhtml/
or
dack.com -- flash is evil
http://www.dack.com/web/flash_evil.html
(opposing views at the bottom...)


Flazoom -- Cancer called Flash
http://www.flazoom.com/news/cancer_06012000.shtml
Flazoom -- Flasher Stop Abusing your Visitors
http://www.flazoom.com/news/user_06202000.shtml
Flazoom -- Make Sure Usability Fitts Flash
http://www.flazoom.com/news/fitts_07102000.shtml

(there are Flash 'ads' on Flazoom)

Erika




>Our sales people appear to have succumbed to the current vogue for rich
>Meida ads (Java, javascript and Flash) as well as pop-up windows.
>
>I am very firmly of the view that, though we may be able to get more money
>out of our advertisers and (possibly) force users to notice more of the ads,
>in the long run, the practice will merely be viewed as arrogant, tiring and
>detrimental to our traffic. As a result, in the longer term, our ad revenues
>will suffer correspondingly.
>
>Does anyone have any experience or knowledge to share on the subject or can
>you point me in the direction of resources (on-line, magazines, books?)
>which will either confirm my suspicions or correct my mis-conceptions.
>
>TIA
>
>nk

erika at seastorm.com