The most basic type of web page is a static one – a page that
rests docilely within your browser window. It doesn’t do
anything. You can view it, then hit your browser back button and
go away again. This is not the sort of page one normally sets
out to create (I hope), but rather a minor but important lesson
in what to avoid. Web pages exist so that the visitor can
interact with them. There is an exciting quid pro quo between a
site and its viewer that simply doesn’t exist in any other
medium. It’s important to take advantage of that. So, what do
you do? Well, the simplest form of interactivity on a page is
links to other pages, whether in the form of text or snazzy
buttons of one sort or another. Another way to interact with a
page is to fill out a form, which offers an exchange of
information (again, unique to the web, particularly in its sense
of immediacy). Almost all web site hosts offer scripting support
of some sort, and there are also sites that exist to do the
fetch and carry work for you. Interactivity is what the web is
all about – a designer’s quest may be seen to be a Zen like goal
to make a site one with the person visiting it. Very cool. But
the palette of surfers out there has been increasingly jaded as
one whiz bang notion after another has hit the web and shaken
and painted over its HTML foundations. Never lose sight of the
idea that what your site looks like is perhaps the most
important part of your web presence. What you say and how you
say it are what keeps people coming back, but how you present it
is what gets them interested in the first place. And since a
form is a form is a form (to paraphrase a writer a lot better
known than me) there comes a time when you must augment your
toolbox in order to create a souped up model. That’s where Flash
comes in – it combines the necessary strengths of interactivity
with powerful animation techniques. Very very cool.
In the not-too-distant past, web based animations were almost
doomed before they began due to their hefty file size trying to
squeeze into the bandwidth available to it on its way from
server to browser window. A scary but analogous idea might be to
visualize a very large person trying to fit into a very small
swimsuit. A lot gets left out. Animated GIF files, AVI and MOV
files – all those are created with bitmap graphics, which
basically means that each and every pixel of each and every
frame must be downloaded & processed in order for it to display.
Flash files, otoh, are vector based, which means that they are
scalable (may be easily resized) and processed based upon the
geometry within the file – curves and lines, rather than dot1,
dot2, dot3. It makes for a far more compact means of displaying
animated graphics. Also, Flash files are open format – intrepid
and fearless third party software developers can make their mark
by utilizing Flash file technology. Macromedia, the company that
markets Flash, has the file specifications available for
downloading at their web site
(http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/open/spec/).
The program itself is an amalgamation of a vector drawing
program with a timeline-based animation creation utility.
Scripts may be written to provide content interactivity. It is
an extremely valuable tool to help move your site from okay to
outstanding. Links to sites which incorporate Flash may be found
at the Macromedia web site or by using your favorite search
engines. http://www.visia.com is a good example of what Flash
can do, as is the excellent “cybermercial” available at
http://www.mmiusa.com/home.html.
And now the Shockwave Flash (swf) file format is obtaining a
much wider acceptance. Adobe, Ulead and Corel are some of the
major players whose products have (or will have) swf export or
viewing capability. http://openswf.org/ provides an information
center for both the programming arcana of swf and lists of third
party developers – companies like Blue Pacific
(http://www.blue-pac.com/), creators of software called Flash
Turbine, which allows you to create dynamic Flash content based
upon changing data in (for example) text or databases.
Having always been a stubborn code by hand type, I was slow to
pay attention to Flash files. To flash or not to flash
(paraphrasing again) was not a question I ever thought I’d be
asking myself. But the reality of the situation is that in this
day of 56k and cable modems and competition from a gazillion
other web sites, coupled with the explosive and ever growing
acceptance of Flash technology (no special plugin is necessary
in the latest versions of the most popular browsers) that in
order to compete in the market, you almost have to be a flasher
too, however perverse that may sound at first blush. I knew I
needed to learn about Flashing, and started at the Macromedia
web site (http://www.macromedia.com). They have a Flash site of
the day and a lot of helpful basic information about Flash4. The
program is available for downloading and a 30-day trial, but
beware of its learning curve and rather high intimidation
factor. Flash is a powerful product indeed, and to harness that
power, you have to put time and effort into it. Assuming you
take the plunge and buy the product, you might be interested in
the many books written about Flash. To flesh out the flashing,
so to speak.
Site design being what it is today, wouldn’t you like to be a
flasher too?
About the author:
Amanda Osborne Design & Development: where every job is an ODD
job http://osbornedesign.com http://zhakora.com/card.html -- Cat
E-Cards http://zhakora.com mailto:amand@osbornedesign.com
