[thelist] flash accessibility/usability

Daniel J. Cody djc at members.evolt.org
Tue Feb 26 16:31:01 CST 2002


.jeff wrote:
l
> have a browser, but not all will have flash installed/enabled.  i can hear
> the flash proponents yelling, "but spinning logos and flames make them wanna
> buy more stuff", which has been proven over and over again to *not* be the
> case.

using an absurd example is flawed logically. of course 'logos & flames'
won't make you want to buy things.

> now, back to flash and its usefulness.  sure, it could be used to display a
> 3d mockup of the object for the user to inspect. thinking this will close
> the sale is a rather uneducated assumption.  if the rest of the aspects of
> the "sales pitch" can't sell the product without the bit of flash then the
> addition of the flash won't have any positive impact on securing the sale.

why blanket it like that? why is it an 'un-educated assumption' on my
part to give a 360 degree model of a scooter on iSellScooters.com? what
if i told you the flash-enabled site sold three times as many scooters
as the 'HTML only' site? would i still be using flash incorrectly?

as for the sales pitch thing, insert pictures or text for flash and see
how that sounds: 'if the rest of the aspects of the "sales pitch" can't
sell the product without the pictures then the addition of pictures
won't have any positive...' see, its all information. discarding *any*
piece of otherwise relevant and helpful information, whether it be a
flash animation showing you how the scooter wheels work or a paragraph
of text explaining it to you, is the 'uneducated' thing to do IMO.

information *IS* great, and should always come first. information can be
conveyed in many mediums though, not just textual. the WWW was designed
for multi-media information, not just textual information, and was *THE*
defining feature that lead to the explosion of the Web and Internet in
general.. and i understand the importance of knowing an audience, etc.
so before i get labeled on either side of the debate, i'd like to point
out that I don't have flash installed.

.djc.




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