Future of Flash Websites?

When I hear the word, "codec," I immediately dislike it.

There are some things that Flash can do, which HTML and CSS cannot. Zoomify is one of those Flash programs that work extremely well.

For most of us, a well-designed HTML site is the way to go. But I'm also not a fan of people who put 650k images on the home page, such as what Jim Richardson has done. Or those who design a site for a 1200 pixel wide screen. Or design only for the Mac or only for the PC.

When it comes down to it, you can't even hope to please everyone.
 
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Pickett Wilson said:
Chris, you are talking about a site that is 100 percent flash. That's not what I'm talking about. Using Slideshow Pro on your website won't make your website invisible to search engines.
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it makes the photos invisible, which basically makes the site invisible if you're a photographer wanting people to find your pictures.
 
I like the current situation a lot. I have a Flash blocker installed in my main browser. The advantages of avoiding flash-based moving ads vastly outweigh the somewhat frequent occasions when I click-to-activate the flash plugin. When Flash is abandoned, this method of filtering out the most annoying ads won't work anymore. So I say: long live Flash!
 
semilog said:
I like the current situation a lot. I have a Flash blocker installed in my main browser. The advantages of avoiding flash-based moving ads vastly outweigh the somewhat frequent occasions when I click-to-activate the flash plugin. When Flash is abandoned, this method of filtering out the most annoying ads won't work anymore. So I say: long live Flash!
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Good point!
 
semilog said:
I like the current situation a lot. I have a Flash blocker installed in my main browser. The advantages of avoiding flash-based moving ads vastly outweigh the somewhat frequent occasions when I click-to-activate the flash plugin. When Flash is abandoned, this method of filtering out the most annoying ads won't work anymore. So I say: long live Flash!
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You need a tool for ignoring ads? My brain does it for me and I am serious here. As long as it does not pop up in the middle of the site I don't really notice ads at the top or at the side of a website.
 
Pickett Wilson said:
The most annoying technology to me on the web is Ajax, not Flash. I hate ads that float all over the page.
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But that isn't ajax - ajax means communicating with web server without page reloads (very simply said) - things like submitting forms, loading more data, checking if username is free etc without forcing you to reload whole page.

Popup ads can be created without any ajax at all (and usually are - it's just plain javascript).
 
Ok, so since there seem to be a few people here who know one or two things about building websites, can anyone give me some pointers on how to create a simple non-flash photo gallery with some 'flow' when moving from some picture to the next (like e.g. in the Noah Kalina website I linked)?
 
Here are a few basic questions I'd be immensely thankful to have answered:

1.What's the page type I should pic? Basic HTML? XML? ColdFusion? It's all mandarin to me.

2. What's the commonly used resolution for photo websites these days? Does the resolution matter if I use liquid columns (the ones that adapt the browser window size)?

3. How do I create a basic photo gallery like e.g. the one on this page www.jonathanwaiter.com ? Is there a free template anywhere that I can download?
 
Jamie123 said:
I've been meaning to put together a website for quite some time but have never been able to actually finish anything so far.

Up until now I was set on making a website with Flash (actually, Flash embedded into HTML so I can do SEO) and have delved into the program a bit. Granted, Flash can be a bit complicated but the amount of ActionScript needed for a basic portfolio website seems manageable.

However, I'm really wondering what the future of Flash is with the iPhone and the iPad not supporting it. Am I better off just putting something together in HTML?
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Just seeing this now Jamie.

As someone who's been working on a new site for some time (rebranding and all that), I've avoided using Flash for anything, including slide shows.

There's plenty of customizable scripts out there (Javascript/Ajax/etc) that can do just what Flash can do only faster (quicker load times) and are far more efficient AND can still work just fine on iPod Touch/iPhone/Mobile devices that don't yet support flash.

Even basic HTML is, if done properly, a LOT quicker than Flash wrt loading etc.

Cheers,
Dave
 
If you want to build a modern Web site, then you should design one that uses <DIV>s, rather than <TABLE>s, CSS rather than <FONT> and other early HTML commands. Also consider the use of Javascript.

Learn how to use <INCLUDES>s and base your pages on templates that <INCLUDE> the necessary components. That way, should you wish to redesign your site at some point, you simply need to make changes to your <INCLUDE> files.

The issue with Javascript is making sure that it works across all browsers. However, to imitate many of the Flash-type functions, you really need to introduce scripting combined with CSS. Different browsers handle certain CSS styles differently, so you'll need to test across different browsers and ideally across platforms.

There are some Apple characters that don't translate correctly when read on a PC. The opposite also is true.

I would avoid using huge images and not <center> text except where it makes sense. It helps if you've have some layout skills, although it's not absolutely necessary.

Side note: Flash didn't begin as an Adobe product. It was developed by Macromedia, which also gave us Dreamweaver. It became an Adobe product when Adobe bought Macromedia.
 
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Hey Jamie,

Flash isn't dead because a lot of people still think they need it to do basic animation work within the web. Unless you're doing something really out of left field, why not just find a technology like indexhibit and use CSS to achieve exactly what you want? Sure it will take some time to learn CSS in general, but no more so than learning Flash, which is ultimately going to be obsolete as far as building websites is concerned.

Take a look at indexhibit's basic technology, and then look at what Bruce Mau Design did with it... they even used a little flash - http://www.brucemaudesign.com/
 
ZeissFan said:
If you want to build a modern Web site, then you should design one that uses <DIV>s, rather than <TABLE>s, CSS rather than <FONT> and other early HTML commands. Also consider the use of Javascript.

Learn how to use <INCLUDES>s and base your pages on templates that <INCLUDE> the necessary components. That way, should you wish to redesign your site at some point, you simply need to make changes to your <INCLUDE> files.

The issue with Javascript is making sure that it works across all browsers. However, to imitate many of the Flash-type functions, you really need to introduce scripting combined with CSS. Different browsers handle certain CSS styles differently, so you'll need to test across different browsers and ideally across platforms.

There are some Apple characters that don't translate correctly when read on a PC. The opposite also is true.

I would avoid using huge images and not <center> text except where it makes sense. It helps if you've have some layout skills, although it's not absolutely necessary.

Side note: Flash didn't begin as an Adobe product. It was developed by Macromedia, which also gave us Dreamweaver. It became an Adobe product when Adobe bought Macromedia.
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Thanks! I did so far figure out how to put together my layout in Illustrator, import it into PS as SmartObject, slice up all the components and bring it into Dreamweaver as DIVs and CSS. Sounds like I know what I'm doing but I don't really. Just following tutorials.

Anyways, at the moment I have a nice looking simple 'home' page without images and without working links to navigate throuth the items. It looks perfect in Firefox but IE messes is up a bit.

I will probably have to look into JavaScript for the image loader, though. Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to go a bit bigger than what I have now.

As far as layout skills go, I think they surpass my coding skills by far! :)
 
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dcsang said:
Just seeing this now Jamie.

As someone who's been working on a new site for some time (rebranding and all that), I've avoided using Flash for anything, including slide shows.

There's plenty of customizable scripts out there (Javascript/Ajax/etc) that can do just what Flash can do only faster (quicker load times) and are far more efficient AND can still work just fine on iPod Touch/iPhone/Mobile devices that don't yet support flash.
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Thanks Dave! Yeah, I'm gonna avoid Flash. Now that I'm starting to get the hang of Dreamweaver it looks like this is going to be much much easier than what I did in Flash.
 
Hi,

as someone who buys art for work I can tell you I have closed many flash portfolio web pages because it took too long to see anything, because I couldn't figure out the navigation, or because I was forced to see some slideshow/animation. Flash is an abomination, especially on Apple computers (used by a large majority of graphic artist and potential art buyers...).

The key to make me buy something from you is to make it fast loading and easy to navigate. And of course, have good images ;) .

You're a photographer not a webdesigner, so keep it simple. Even I as a graphic designer (print) I have the simplest of portfolios on Indexhibit. Love this thing. Fast and easy to setup and browse. My work, not my web design speaks for me.

I will not judge you by your website. I just contacted this guy because I might be using some of his pictures. Not exactly site of the year, is it? (Great pictures though).

Keep it simple.
m.
 
morback said:
Hi,

as someone who buys art for work I can tell you I have closed many flash portfolio web pages because it took too long to see anything, because I couldn't figure out the navigation, or because I was forced to see some slideshow/animation. Flash is an abomination, especially on Apple computers (used by a large majority of graphic artist and potential art buyers...).

The key to make me buy something from you is to make it fast loading and easy to navigate. And of course, have good images ;) .

You're a photographer not a webdesigner, so keep it simple. Even I as a graphic designer (print) I have the simplest of portfolios on Indexhibit. Love this thing. Fast and easy to setup and browse. My work, not my web design speaks for me.

I will not judge you by your website. I just contacted this guy because I might be using some of his pictures. Not exactly site of the year, is it? (Great pictures though).

Keep it simple.
m.
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Whenever I see a site like the one you linked I expect instructions on how to make a pipe bomb :)

Simple, easy and classy is what I'm going for. The page I have layed out could probably be put together in less than 2 hours by a moderately experienced web designer. It's that simple. Unfortunately none of my friends are web designers :(

I think I finally settled on a layout that works for my photography. I used to shoot lots of square stuff with my Hasselblad but the new digital stuff is mostly cropped to 4x5 ratio. Add to that the mixture of portrait and landscape photography and you have quite a challange putting together a layout that makes everything balance out.
 
I'm getting the feeling that the ultimate web site design for some of you would be a single, blank, what page. ;)

I guess it's part of this I don't need a meter in my camera thing. Come on, embrace the technology.
 
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