WEB MEDIA SCHOOL session - 69
WEB EFFECTS

 Don't Get Blinded by Flash

Brad Cohen

SearchHound Executive Vice President and Director

Is your Web site getting stale? It happens to the best of sites. And you're tempted to jazz up yours with Flash animation, right? Not so fast.

There's no doubt Macromedia's Flash is a great product, especially if you want fast, interactive graphics and sound. Tell me more. And there are plenty of reasons to incorporate Flash. The Flash plug-in boasts an installed base among Netscape users of nearly 88% -- an all-time high, according to WebSideStory's StatMarket.

FLASH'S DARK SIDE

But Flash has a dark side. Design guru Jakob Nielsen says Flash tends to discourage usability. He recommends deploying it sparingly. And eWeek's Scot Petersen says Flash can be a major pain, since it slows down entry into a site and requires users without the browser plug-in to go get it.

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