I've never been very good with animation. I tried flash but couldn't stand it. Actionscript seemed complex and all I wanted to do really was make a site and post articles and pictures.
Today however "Web Applications" are supposed to be the next big thing. Flash has evolved as an animation tool to a GUI tool. Where flash wins is:
Say I wanna register or buy something from a site. The checkout process usually takes 3 steps where you have to go forward, back, who knows. Anywho, flash is nice cause you can do it all viewing the same page, all the transaction process can be taken care of in scenes in Flash. Check out their Pet Market app in DevNet, pretty cool!
I see Flash as a good tool because it can show off products or provide their user with a good "experience". At the same time it can handle scripts and databases. Users their aiming for don't live on the internet. They want something attractive and easy to use while consuming little time.
Where it sucks:
Too much animation. I hate viewing intros for a site, I almost fall asleep waiting for the preloader to finish! There isn't much usability out there for it either. If Nike were able to show me every angle of the shoe, let me change colors, watch videos of it in action it may be a little more inviting.
To me and most of the web software, people wont buy it until the actual fast always on connection is there. Sure I have the tools to video conference, but I don't have the speed at all. Sure I could check a movie time on my mobile device, but why dont I save myself $300 bucks and open up a damn paper!
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I've never been very good with animation. I tried flash but couldn't stand it. Actionscript seemed complex and all I wanted to do really was make a site and post articles and pictures. Today however "Web Applications" are supposed to be the next big thing. Flash has evolved as an animation tool to a GUI tool. Where flash wins is: Say I wanna register or buy something from a site. The checkout process usually takes 3 steps where you have to go forward, back, who knows. Anywho, flash is nice cause you can do it all viewing the same page, all the transaction process can be taken care of in scenes in Flash. Check out their Pet Market app in DevNet, pretty cool! I see Flash as a good tool because it can show off products or provide their user with a good "experience". At the same time it can handle scripts and databases. Users their aiming for don't live on the internet. They want something attractive and easy to use while consuming little time. Where it sucks: Too much animation. I hate viewing intros for a site, I almost fall asleep waiting for the preloader to finish! There isn't much usability out there for it either. If Nike were able to show me every angle of the shoe, let me change colors, watch videos of it in action it may be a little more inviting. To me and most of the web software, people wont buy it until the actual fast always on connection is there. Sure I have the tools to video conference, but I don't have the speed at all. Sure I could check a movie time on my mobile device, but why dont I save myself $300 bucks and open up a damn paper!