Over the past few days I have been zooming through sites looking at different designs for inspiration and ideas. During my site viewing time I came to realize things I hate about web designers. These are things that caused me to close my browser window before the site loaded or even not visit the site at all. Perhaps you’ll agree with me and use some of these tips when you’re designing sites.
Take a look at Steel Dolphin Creative. After going to the main url I had to click yet another enter button for a static HTML site! To me this not necessary and a waste of good browsing time.
Liquid Chrome is a good example of how to use an entry page. It’s sweet and simple.
Some pages that do have Flash don’t have splash pages. Yes it can be done. Here is art+design. The actual Flash page loads quicker than having an entry page, so they didn’t even include one.
If you do feel that your site should require an entry page please keep the graphics down to a minimum. Nothing better than waiting on tons of graphics just to click onto another page that has to load.
In my opinion every Flash design should include a loading screen. It’s annoying looking at a blank page wondering if your browser is loading properly.
When you do have a loading screen you may want to include one with either a progress bar or percentage so your viewers know how close they are to having the file downloaded.
Pop-ups and full screen
When I’m browsing sites I absolutely hate having pop-ups or even worse, full screen movies. I personally feel like the site is trying to take over my personal space with full screen sites. Any site that I come across that opens in full screen mode automatically gets the alt+f4 to close it before it even gets a chance to load.
I can deal with pop-ups most of the time, but don’t automatically load them. I often find myself closing pop-ups thinking they are ads. Pop up blockers also do the same thing. They automatically think any pop up is an advertisement. If you do feel that you should automatically load a pop-up for your Flash movie, make sure you keep a link on the main page to re-open the pop just in case it accidentally gets closed.
If you have any external links in your Flash sites, make sure they open a separate browser window. I hate clicking on links, being redirected to another page or site, hitting the back button and having to wait on the Flash movie to restart. This will also help to keep visitors on your site.
Hopefully you can see where I’m coming from on these suggestions. Remember, we didn’t create the web. We just make it easier to use.
Also feel free to send me someemail.
Having created the outlines for FlashNewz and FLADownloads, John has become a strong voice in the Flash Community. His reviews and tutorials give great insight and knowledge to readers around the world. He has a keen eye for what’s hot and what’s not in the Flash world. He has also developed and continues to run his own flash portal as a side project to keep his mind on the Flash community
Being a key designer for advertising creative, he’s got style when it comes to grabbing readers attention. With a proven track record, there isn’t much this guy can’t handle.
