RE: FN-FORUM Scroll Bars / flash HOORAY!

date posted 23rd January 2001 17:10

Ok here are my Pros and Cons of Flash (and yes I use it but
minimalistically)

Pros

Looks good - But if everyone used it, it would be no diffrent to good
graphic design.
Animation - Gives smooth vector animation, can animate bitmaps at a price of
size.
Logic built in - Ability to program if...then...else statements and others.
Small file sizes - Considering animation and other details the files are
small.

Cons

Large file sizes - Even though considering their nature, SWF files are still
large for the Internet. Soon to be a smaller problem with the rollout of
Broadband, but then the bottleneck will be the connections between major
systems not to your home.
Plugin - contary to the belief of many people users don't often download
plug-ins as they go on the net for a purpose, and if your site means a 10
min download, then they will goto the next one, and not yours.
Logic - although HTML supports no logic there are a host of scripts and
languages that do and can be used to control the logic on a page.
Freedom - although this sounds like it should be in the Pros list I don't
believe it should. Let me give you a short explaination why... In the old
days of computers every system had it's own UI and command structure, each
with it's own quirks. Designers had to have their freedom reduced to create
useful 'standardised' UIs (User Interfaces). To much freedom means that the
designers try to show their flair too much, which is a hinderance to good UI
design