Slashdot Mirror

You obviously haven't been to Colorado Springs. The public high school near Cheyenne Mountain is one of the best in Colorado, and then there's the private schools. It's also one of the wealthiest areas along the Front Range and rather scenic too (there's a 5-star hotel nearby--The Broadmoor). There's also a fairly new large movie theater nearby and all the other stuff preppy people would like. There's also a strong military presence in the city and is probably one of the most conservative, hawkish cities I've ever lived in which is something else I would think they'd like.

I think the main drawbacks to NORAD would be the cost to upgrade buildings (this was recently done, but I think NSA would need even more) and the inconvenience of all the workers having to drive 15-20 miles to get to work.

This is actually what Flash could be good for. No, don't laugh, seriously.

More recent versions of Flash (since version 5, I think) have pretty capable connectivity for various server-driven databases, and Macromedia obviously intended for it to be able to do on the client side what Java's always failed to do. (In these scenarios, Java would normally be running on the server side -- or ColdFusion, of course, but it's actually written in Java anyway.) Flash could allow web applications as responsive as normal desktop applications, and it's really a shame that it's gotten stuck in the "annoying web animation" niche.

You can see an actual useful page done in Flash for a hotel reservation system at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. It's a small system, to be sure, but it gives an idea of how Flash can actually be used for good instead of evil.

Flash defeats the most fundamental design goals of the Web: flexibility, implementation-independence, and content over presentation.

Flash allows web designers--not me--to choose how things look on my system.

Flash interferes with most of the functions usually performed by a web browser: in-page searching, history, bookmarking, content filtering.

If the blinky-flashy-advertising part of this huge flash monstrosity were a separate image, I could just choose to not display it. But because it's part of the same single giant spooge of "content", I have to just live with it, eh?

the burden of proof is not on those making the argument that Flash is vile and tainted. That burden rests on the shoulders of those who assert that Flash is vital and useful and worthwhile.

...every antisocial designer out there

And if it's Flash helping the content and functionality you want, go to www.broadmoor.com and click 'reservations.' Show me a _single_ web technology that can do all of that without having to combine ten other technologies and looking the same in all browsers.

Take a look at this article on ZDnet I read recently about Flash MX.

It seems that in some cases, Flash can be used to build REAL APPLICATIONS like this one here that are:

1) Easy to use.

2) Cross platform (windows, mac, unix, palm, etc)

3) Easy to build

In this regard, this puts pressure on VB and/or .NET. This review shows it's not quite there yet, but it's certainly a step in this direction.

What does MS do whenever it runs into something that outperforms their own products?

Buy the company, of course.

theese guys include a low bandwidth version for you 56k people to use if you feel the load time will negate the ease of use of the no refresh version it's right here. Personally i like the way the form works on the flash version, it's one of the few truly usefull flash things i have seen.

If developers could make more use of flash in a usefull way like this it could certainly be good for the product, until now i have considered it primarily a toy (and usually an annoying one)

I took a look at the demo site here, and it actually is kinda impressive. However, at the bottom of the reservation system I noticed this:

Circle-C 2001 Webvertising Circle-R Patent Pending

How funny is that if the one thing that actually may make Flash useful (one-screen Web GUIs) would be patented? As if people needed more reasons not to use Flash...

How would sites written in Flash be accessible to disabled users of the internet, that rely on alt-tags and other items to navigate a site successfully.

They're not. Simple as that.

If you're developing using Flash, then you're assuming your client has a graphical operating system and a graphical browser. Granted, it's a minority of the web-surfing world that relies on Braille displays or text-to-speech readers or keyboard-only access, but they do exist.

However, it's not really fair to shoot the messenger. Developers have been demanding this sort of thing from Flash, because clients have been demanding it from developers. Macromedia is simply giving people what they've asked for.

It's the clients that are the problem, clients and underexperienced developers. Too many people don't realize that "universal accessibility" is something that should be built into every Web site, or at least taken into account. The example site cited in the News.com article understands this perfectly -- they include a link to a low-bandwidth version which provides the same functionality using ordinary Web-based forms, and of course the home page lists the phone number for information and reservations. Those who have Flash are treated to a dynamically-updated reservation system stored entirely on one Web page; the rest have ready access to non-Flash or phone-based methods. Good developers; much praise and approval from self.

Of course, there will be developers who create their sites using Flash and nothing but, and they'll eventually get complaints and either address them or ignore them. But there have always been developers who ignore accessibility; I'm still the only guy at my company who uses ALT tags universally. But it's not fair to say "Macromedia shouldn't be offering this tool" when it's the developers and clients, not Macromedia, who need to consider accessibility.

Flash movies in the middle of a site (or as a "splash page") suck ass, but the link they give for a site made with the beta of the new flash is kind of nice. It's much faster and easier on the eyes than similarly-formatted sites like orbitz or travelocity.

Of course I haven't seen everything that these flash-sites can do, or will do, but I approve so far.