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Introduction to Flash Usability
Author: Jeremy Riga | Website: http://home.columbus.rr.com/jeremyriga |

Where To Begin?

Remember the FIRST Flash site you ever looked at? Mine was Balthaser.com. I watched in complete suspense as graphics and music loaded and spun around my screen. I remember waiting patiently as my taskbar explained that I was going need to sit there for 6 minutes as the site loaded. Did I care? Hell no. I was being entertained by what appeared to be the most amazing site I'd ever laid eyes on. Once loaded, my experience began. I looked at every page (frame) in that site. Twice. I'd been a designer for a few years at that point, but I'd seen nothing like this.

Fast forward a year or two and here we are. Back when this was new to everyone, it (almost) didn't matter what was on your site. People were slamming your site just because it had Flash. They wanted to see this powerful tool in action. Time changes everything…

Flash is all the way up to version 5 as I write this, and it's no longer ok to make the most animated, flashy, stuff-flying-around-the-screen site possible. Flash is more than an animation tool. It's a whole new way to communicate with your end-user. Mark this spot. This is important.

You are designing your Flash site for someone. You don't know this person. You don't know what kind of computer they're using. You don't know what their resolution capabilities are. You know nothing about them and you've been faced with the challenge of communicating thoughts and ideas to them visually, through the arrangement of graphics and sound. Do it right. Give your user the experience they deserve and they'll be back to use your site again and again.

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