[thelist] flash detection

[Mike Hardaker]

> >I can't prove it, but seems obvious to me that the average Internet user
> >really digs Flash ... I have no other explanation for how a
> Flash site can
> >get over 50K visitors in the first month with a
> marketing/promotion budget
> >of $0.

It's horses for courses. Flash (I firmly believe) has little or no place as
an integral part of a site for which you want regular users - although it
can work nicely for "special occasions". In particular, it is poor for
(most) information-led sites. Take Yahoo! as a classic example. Would the
addition of Flash in its core sections help? No (IMHO). Would it hinder? Yes
(IMHO, again) as it would give people yet more reasons to use Google.

However, there are sites you design with the recognition that most users
will visit only once - a movie teaser site would be a good example. There,
Flash can be great - the site's design basically says "sit back, have a
blow, find out about Johnny Depp's new haircut, and then get back to Real
Life". A user will typically hit such a site when that's just what they want
to do (using the IMDB if they need some research done), but will never
return. If you don't want "stickiness" (and there are times where it's
unreatlistic to even hope for this), then Flash can help with the short-term
lock-in.

As the Australian humourist/TV presenter once said while sneaking out of a
production of a Brecht play in Paris: "Don't get me wrong - Brecht has his
place. It's called East Berlin."

Flash has its place - but not in many of the places its actually being
used...

<off topic>
Incidentally, if you're claiming 50K visitors for a site, they're either all
registered users (an untrustworthy figure, thanks to all of us who have
multiple Hotmail addesses, or whatever) or you're making the dreadful
mistake of confusing "unique user sessions" with "people". I don't know
*any* site on the Web that can say, with any authority, how many people
visit it. Even the Neilsen figures are, in this dynamic environment and with
the sample sizes involved, merely a stab in the dark.
</off topic>

-------------------
Mike Hardaker
Founder & Publisher
AngloINFO
www.angloinfo.com (Web)
wap.angloinfo.com (WAP)