So Very True

[zingerella]

Dan Wineman explains why the Flash on your retail website needs to go:

Me: (tries to visit a local restaurant’s website via iPhone)
Restaurant website: I require Flash. Fuck off.
Me: I just want to know how late you’re open.
Website: Nope.
Me: But I’m on my phone. Don’t you have a little “HTML Version” link up in the corner or something?
Website: I’m

Comments

[twiin]

See also: every website.

[zingerella]

Oh sure.

Flash bugs me most on commercial websites where it actively blocks me from getting to the information I want-where I have to sit through a stupid animation simply in order to see the hours. It bothers me less on, say, a website where I'm clicking through to a game or animation (though it still bugs me there. I'm sure there's a better way to do things.)

[twiin]

Yeah, I don't mind it when it's used for animation/gaming, because that's really what it is designed for. When it's used for layout/navigation, you run into all kinds of accessibility problems. Screen readers for the blind basically choke and die when they see those kinds of sites.

[krinndnz]

Yeah, I like Flash even less as I've gotten to know it better. I think it's just - we need to be done with it. It's another web technology that has become obsolete. No shame in that.

[human_loser]

I must make a special effort to work "fuck entirely off" into my lexicon.

I live in Alberta, so I predict some success!

[audrawilliams]

Ha ha ha!

[sabotabby]

See also:

- On a school computer where the board takes forever to update to the latest version of Flash
- On an old computer that can't get the latest version of Flash
- Visually impaired or learning disabled and using a screen reader
- Prone to migraines or seizures caused by lots of flashy shit

[zingerella]

Yes to all of these, too.

[bunsen_h]

Several times in recent years, the Ottawa SF Society has had offers from people to completely overhaul our website to add animations! pictures! fancy menus! the latest shiny stuff!

And I've told them: Fine, as long as that's on a secondary version of the site, accessible from the main site -- which must remain lean and clean, suitable for viewing with old equipment on dial-up. Because that's all that some of our members have.

The would-be web designers have always disappeared at that point.