This by far
January 10, 2001 4:08 PM Subscribe
This by far is the all-time worst use of flash ever. Boring, long, and utterly unimportant. It blows -- the competition away!
It looks like they directly copied their power point presentation into flash, replete with the sliding text and all.
But why?
posted by croutonsupafreak at 4:18 PM on January 10, 2001
But why?
posted by croutonsupafreak at 4:18 PM on January 10, 2001
Why? Because 14% of web designers stated that everything revolves around Flash.
posted by gluechunk at 4:38 PM on January 10, 2001
posted by gluechunk at 4:38 PM on January 10, 2001
well it sure is making me want to go to krispy kreme and watch the donuts move about the place on fancy conveyer belts while consuming a few...
posted by subpixel at 4:52 PM on January 10, 2001
posted by subpixel at 4:52 PM on January 10, 2001
Wow! What a great innovative web experience. That's sure to grab customers' attention.
Of course it is an ad for a horizontally processing conveyor belt...is it any wonder the site behaves the same way?
There is no interactivity or control left to the user. You don't want them reading at their own pace or perhaps stopping for a second look at your pictures.
I would argue that this is not the worst Flash site I've ever seen since it does not have a scratchy low sample rate techno beat loop.
posted by ritualdevice at 4:54 PM on January 10, 2001
Of course it is an ad for a horizontally processing conveyor belt...is it any wonder the site behaves the same way?
There is no interactivity or control left to the user. You don't want them reading at their own pace or perhaps stopping for a second look at your pictures.
I would argue that this is not the worst Flash site I've ever seen since it does not have a scratchy low sample rate techno beat loop.
posted by ritualdevice at 4:54 PM on January 10, 2001
subpixel, I agree, conveyor belts and doughnuts are exciting, and you can even enjoy it from the comfort of your desktop (realvideo an old coworker made).
posted by mathowie at 5:00 PM on January 10, 2001
posted by mathowie at 5:00 PM on January 10, 2001
I agree that its not very good and a page of text & image could have done a better job.
But actually I found it considerably more interesting than most flash presentations in that it presented actual information about something.
While I've never been interested in spiral food proccesing solutions in the past even the poorly presented information here was of more benefit to me than the aestheticly sophisticated crap i am often forced to navigate though to get to information i really am interested in.
posted by atom71 at 5:07 PM on January 10, 2001
But actually I found it considerably more interesting than most flash presentations in that it presented actual information about something.
While I've never been interested in spiral food proccesing solutions in the past even the poorly presented information here was of more benefit to me than the aestheticly sophisticated crap i am often forced to navigate though to get to information i really am interested in.
posted by atom71 at 5:07 PM on January 10, 2001
Repeat after me: "I will not mock industrial process designers."
"Utterly unimporant" is in the eye of the beholder, and besides, the importance of content is orthogonal to its presentation, no?
Perhaps it might have been better packaged as something other than Flash; perhaps it was paced a little slowly. But it made certain points, and it illustrated them, and it was cleanly designed, and the final "slide" used dissolves very effectively. It's not perfect, but it's hardly an abomination.
posted by grimmelm at 5:07 PM on January 10, 2001
"Utterly unimporant" is in the eye of the beholder, and besides, the importance of content is orthogonal to its presentation, no?
Perhaps it might have been better packaged as something other than Flash; perhaps it was paced a little slowly. But it made certain points, and it illustrated them, and it was cleanly designed, and the final "slide" used dissolves very effectively. It's not perfect, but it's hardly an abomination.
posted by grimmelm at 5:07 PM on January 10, 2001
Must agree with atom71. The fact that it presented information, instead of shapes floating around to techno music, redeems it. I actually think zombo.com is the most pointless use of flash I've seen, but competition is stiff...
posted by champignon at 5:31 PM on January 10, 2001
posted by champignon at 5:31 PM on January 10, 2001
I'm with you guys. It presents information, which is more than I can say for most "Skip Intro" splash screens.
I'm more annoyed by this type of thing. Obnoxious music loops, gratuitous (and slow) animation, slow text display, and a sweeping lack of content and information. (Trivia: The "design" firm is owned by Larry Wilcox, the actor who played "Jon" on CHiPS.)
posted by waxpancake at 5:34 PM on January 10, 2001
I'm more annoyed by this type of thing. Obnoxious music loops, gratuitous (and slow) animation, slow text display, and a sweeping lack of content and information. (Trivia: The "design" firm is owned by Larry Wilcox, the actor who played "Jon" on CHiPS.)
posted by waxpancake at 5:34 PM on January 10, 2001
Okay, but why did it have to be in flash at all? Couldn't the web site have just as easily been done in html, with text and jpegs that the user could click through? Not everyone reads at the same rate. I found myself getting bored waiting for the next text to roll onto the page, but I'm sure some folks wouldn't have enough time to read it all. html would give the user more control over the interface, and would also be more accessible to a broader range of users. A nice menu at the bottom of the page and voila -- interested folks could go through the slide show about the product, and others could go strait to whatever category interested them most instead of having to skip flash.
Also, as nice as flash can look, most users don't have the bandwidth connection and the fancy monitors needed for the optimal interface. It took a few seconds to load with my at-home cable modem, and I'm sure folks w/28.8k modems (yes, they do still exist) would have much more to complain about. Some clean html could get across the same message with the same images with for lower bandwidth, lower tech users.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:19 PM on January 10, 2001
Also, as nice as flash can look, most users don't have the bandwidth connection and the fancy monitors needed for the optimal interface. It took a few seconds to load with my at-home cable modem, and I'm sure folks w/28.8k modems (yes, they do still exist) would have much more to complain about. Some clean html could get across the same message with the same images with for lower bandwidth, lower tech users.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:19 PM on January 10, 2001
Folks interested in purchasing a spiral processing conveyor belt have probably never seen Flash before.
Betcha this blew them away.
posted by aladfar at 8:28 PM on January 10, 2001
Betcha this blew them away.
posted by aladfar at 8:28 PM on January 10, 2001
Actually, if you want to split hairs - and what is MeFi for but that!!! - it's a horrendous use of Flash because it uses JPGs. Flash is a vector graphics tool. It's supposed to be low-bandwidth. Every time I see a Flash movie with tons of bitmapped images I want to cry. IT'S NOT FOR THAT!!! Same goes with sound, damnit.
Grouse grouse grouse.
But I am hypnotized by this Flash presentation. Gahhhh.
posted by solistrato at 8:30 PM on January 10, 2001
Grouse grouse grouse.
But I am hypnotized by this Flash presentation. Gahhhh.
posted by solistrato at 8:30 PM on January 10, 2001
So does anyone use Flash for *static* vector images? Sort of like what SVG is being promised as? I've never seen it, but with the penetration of Flash in the browser world it seems like it could work. And the original hype surrounding Flash was as much about vector as animation.
posted by rodii at 8:45 PM on January 10, 2001
posted by rodii at 8:45 PM on January 10, 2001
I have used it for technical illustrations offered as supplementary material - click a link, open a secondary window with the schematic or blueprint displayed. I used Flash because it's a relatively simple trick to get Flash to not only fill the browser window but by specifying percentages instead of pixels it scales beautifully if the user decides they'd like to maximize the window for a closer look at details. It's extremely effective in that context.
posted by m.polo at 9:29 PM on January 10, 2001
posted by m.polo at 9:29 PM on January 10, 2001
That site makes me want a vertical drive, even though I have no idea what a vertical drive is. It looks like a damn cool robot, and I want one. So that can't be the worst Flash ever.
This is the all-time worst Flash site.
posted by aaron at 11:33 PM on January 10, 2001
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posted by mathowie at 4:17 PM on January 10, 2001