Don't Get Flashy...
As the Internet has moved from an information source to a marketing tool, many websites have moved from sources of information to giant adverts. Due to this, Flash and JavaScript are becoming more prevalent - but their implementations are often poor and badly thought out.
Please, don't make the same mistake when designing your websites. Flash and JavaScript might be the "in things" at the moment, but don't include them just for the sake of it. Most of them look good at first, but will ultimately turn users away. I have a list of deadly sins which are becoming more prevalent. Commit these sins at your peril:
Broken JavaScript - Rather than
simply being annoying, broken JavaScript can make your site un-usable. Many
sites are becoming lazy - it isn't hard to make sure that your site fails
gracefully if it isn't viewed on the latest browser. Take this site for
example - if you're on Internet Explorer 4 or above, you'll see a pink box
in the left-navigation pane which shows a description of certain navigation
links. If you're not using those browsers, you will not get any errors - the
box just won't appear. Only a few lines of code are required to check if
the browser is compatible, but many sites don't do this. The worst site for this
must be BT's bill-checking service. It uses JavaScript to redirect through
tens of pages (this isn't an exaggeration). This would slow the site down
enormously, if it actually worked. Unfortunately something isn't quite right
and even on IE5 each page brings up a script error. Consequently, the site is
unusable because you can never get to the page you want.
Completely Flash Sites - The
second deadly sin. With the exception of
Audi,
I have never seen an easy to use, well thought out flash site. They tend
to be slow, hard to navigate and you can't copy text from the pages. Again,
Flash-only sites may look good at first, but they're a pain to use.
Flash Intro Screens - The first
page of the site is flash animation, which takes about five minutes to load.
Unless I have a pressing reason to visit the site, I'll leave as soon as I see
Flash loading. Many people feel the same way. These intro screens are entirely
pointless! Most sites have a "skip-intro" button - I wonder how many record how
many times this pressed, to see how many visitors actually watch the intro. Not
many, I'd bet.
Using Flash for Graphics -
Something which I've noticed lately is that animated GIFs or static logos
are being replaced with Flash animations. I recently had to download the
Flash 5 plug-in just to see a small 200x85 animated logo. I was not
very happy. Please - try to use animated GIFs if you must have an animated logo.
Don't use them at all if you can avoid it. At least no-one's using Flash
for bullet animations - yet.
When You Should Use JavaScript and Flash
Although the above are sins, Flash and JavaScript can be used to great effect under certain circumstances.
Flash
Flash is an excellent medium for interactive tutorials, with it's scripting becoming invaluable. While these can be implemented in HTML and JavaScript, the Flash animation is likely to be faster to load in these circumstances (since the plug-in is only downloaded once and you may have lots of tutorials).
JavaScript
JavaScript can greatly enhance a website if used correctly. Generally, you can use it for whatever you feel is necessary - providing you include guarding code to make it fail gracefully on older browsers. Look at the source for this page to see how this site does it.
Don't Drive Customers Away
Remember - a slow-loading or broken site is likely to drive customers away (and possibly mentioned on this site!).
