Design whole (small) website with Pro in Flash?

[Tallis]

With Pro supporting flash now, is it possibleto create an entire, albeit tiny website in XXP? Buttons can be used for navigation from a main menu instead of simple forward-backward arrows to progress thru an animation?

If yes, do you think there might be a tutorial in the future?

Thanks

[jedfrechette]

Regardless of whether you can or not please don't.

Although Flash can be used effectively I can't think of any sites done entirely in Flash that I would willingly return to. It encourages bad ui design by breaking the web's fundamental interaction principles, makes it more difficult for search engines to index your site, and is slow (no I'm not using dial up).

[pauland]

It encourages bad ui design by breaking the web's fundamental interaction principles, makes it more difficult for search engines to index your site, and is slow (no I'm not using dial up).

That's a lot of prejudices.

"It encourages bad ui design by breaking the web's fundamental interaction principles."

That's a broad statement, just exactly are "the web's fundamental interaction principles."?

Encouraging bad UI design? No more than HTML or any other web technology does.

Problems with search engines? You have a point.

Slow? Flash can be way faster than HTML, if it's slow it's either content heavy or badly designed.

There's good and bad design out there and it's not related to any one technology, including Flash.

Finally, I don't recommend Xara as a website builder either.

Paul

[Egg Bramhill]

Paul,

That's a refreshing opinion to hear and quite correct. Let's escape from the html etc straight-jacket.

The search engine situation is different but not insurmountable.

Agreed. Pro shouldn't be considered as a Flash site builder.

[jedfrechette]

That's a lot of prejudices.

"It encourages bad ui design by breaking the web's fundamental interaction principles."

That's a broad statement, just exactly are "the web's fundamental interaction principles."?

Your right, I am prejudiced against Flash web sites but that's because I've had to endure so many bad ones. I don't object to all use of Flash only its use to create an entire site. I've never designed a Flash site so I don't know what is possible my comments are based solely on my experiences as a user. Actually, before I posted my original response I really tried to think of an example of a "good" Flash site. If you could point me towards one it would be much appreciated.

The best example of a "good" site that I could think of is kuler. It's a kind of cool site by Adobe for creating and sharing color themes. Its even fairly snappy. However, it does not behave how the rest of the web behaves. That is what I ment by fundamental interaction priciples, i.e. the interface behaves how the user expects it to behave.

For example, suppose I spend some time navigating through the site and checking out different color themes. When I hit the back button in my browser I expect to be taken back to the previous color theme that I was viewing. Unfortunately, I am taken to whichever site I was at before kuler. Compare this to COLOURlovers, although certainly not perfect at least navigation works as I would expect it to.

[WolfMoonHP]

I think the problem comes in when people try to do WAY too much Flash on their pages.

I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and movies, and when I checked out the author's web site, I was apalled! I think Flash cann add a lot of "sparkle" to a web site, but there really is such a thing as too much!

Check here: http://www.jkrowling.com/en/index.cfm to see what I mean

---
Will

[pauland]

[QUOTE=jedfrechette;186823]Your right, I am prejudiced against Flash web sites but that's because I've had to endure so many bad ones.[quote]

I understand completely, but I've seen many naff ones in HTML myself.

I don't object to all use of Flash only its use to create an entire site.

I think it depends on the audience. Some niche audiences are candidates for Flash sites. Most people these days have the flash plugin and it's easy to download. Search engine optimization is a hassle though.

I've never designed a Flash site so I don't know what is possible my comments are based solely on my experiences as a user. Actually, before I posted my original response I really tried to think of an example of a "good" Flash site. If you could point me towards one it would be much appreciated.

Check out this thread: http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...629#post186629

The best example of a "good" site that I could think of is kuler. It's a kind of cool site by Adobe for creating and sharing color themes. Its even fairly snappy. However, it does not behave how the rest of the web behaves. That is what I ment by fundamental interaction priciples, i.e. the interface behaves how the user expects it to behave.

I almost posted about kuler in the other forums - not as a flash example, but as a cool thing in it's own right.

What people are comfortable with on the web changes all of the time, as does what they expect. Everyone is different, but we all have some fundementals.

For example, suppose I spend some time navigating through the site and checking out different color themes. When I hit the back button in my browser I expect to be taken back to the previous color theme that I was viewing. Unfortunately, I am taken to whichever site I was at before kuler. Compare this to COLOURlovers, although certainly not perfect at least navigation works as I would expect it to.

For me the "back" button is not essential. In many respects I consider it to be a real nuisance. It allows me to run back and fore through web pages where what I looked at before is no longer valid. For many years I've developed desktop software with no concept of a back/forward navigation. It is possible to support the back button with flash, but it's a pain.

Paul

[pauland]

I think the problem comes in when people try to do WAY too much Flash on their pages.

I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter books and movies, and when I checked out the author's web site, I was apalled! I think Flash cann add a lot of "sparkle" to a web site, but there really is such a thing as too much!

Check here: http://www.jkrowling.com/en/index.cfm to see what I mean

---
Will

Will, you aren't the right demographic. It's remarkable similar to 'proper' childrens software and likely to appeal to children.

I like it - don't think of it as a web page.

Paul

[haakoo]

Drawing in Flash and SwishMax isn't that easy
So I use XXP for layouts because it xports swf(Vector is mainstream in Flash)the swf can be imported into a flasheditor and then you can adjust your site to your needs
But i'll allways use html over/beneath/beside it
The truth is every big corp. nowadays use Flash to get things under your
attention(ads,trailers............)
Flash makes things graphics wise better looking
(BTW. I'm from the Netherlands where 70% uses the internet
with almost 80% uses ADSL or Cable,so speed isn't the problem for not using flash)


So if you want some inspiration of how compact looking sites in flash can be
go see it here>>http://www.thefwa.com/

[jen0dorf]

Hi

Flash used to be the "tool of choice" for modern websites but internet users are now far more aware and with the increase of graphics on the tv etc. Flash sites no longer impress. The general view is that the internet is used to gain information. Thereare exceptions as has been mentioned such as game sites but any modern website should be designed to impart basic information with 15 to 20 seconds -the average attention span.

My preference is to use xara as a graphics design tool to create my graphics for web sites. OK I purchased pro but I was never under the illusion it would replace my use of Flash, swift etc.

As to using it to design a web site you will still need the basic HTML to format the page so you will need a working knowledge of HTML or appropriate software.

My opinion of course

Ian