Re: [ia-55] Flash vs. Non - Flash (for 2.0 sites, widgets and modules)
Messages
| From: | Tom Longson |
| Sent on: | Tuesday, April 22 at 7:07 PM |
> Just a quick note to clarify on your last point, there actually is much
you can do now with Flash (9, AS3) now as far as SEO,
> bookmarking, direct (deep) linking, etc.
I think you vastly are overselling the SEO / deeplinking potential of flash currently.
It's getting better, but it takes a lot of work to get sub-standard SEO results. I'm currently building a Flex application, and because of this problem, we're literallly building an HTML version alongside the RIA. The point I'm trying to make is if you really want to have an SEO strategy you have to think about it in parallel, be it Flash, Flex, JavaScript, or NextFutureHipWebTechnology. Go for the 501, make your site simple enough for the blind to get use out of it, because search engines are blind, deaf, *and* dumb.
Tom Longson (nym)
> bookmarking, direct (deep) linking, etc.
I think you vastly are overselling the SEO / deeplinking potential of flash currently.
It's getting better, but it takes a lot of work to get sub-standard SEO results. I'm currently building a Flex application, and because of this problem, we're literallly building an HTML version alongside the RIA. The point I'm trying to make is if you really want to have an SEO strategy you have to think about it in parallel, be it Flash, Flex, JavaScript, or NextFutureHipWebTechnology. Go for the 501, make your site simple enough for the blind to get use out of it, because search engines are blind, deaf, *and* dumb.
Tom Longson (nym)
On Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Tom W <[address removed]> wrote:
Hi G -
Just a quick note to clarify on your last point, there actually is much you can do now with Flash (9, AS3) now as far as SEO, bookmarking, direct (deep) linking, etc. Further, Flash can work well within a PHP environment and utilizing XML enables passing of data, easily edited/updated. AS3 via Papervision can also do some pretty cool stuff with 3D planes...
----- Original Message ----
From: G <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 5:22:30 PM
Subject: Re: [ia-55] Flash vs. Non - Flash (for 2.0 sites, widgets and modules)
Hey All,Thank a lot for all your responses. Just to put things in?prospective, I am documenting the pros and cons of Flash vs. Non flash technique. I have been?fairly?intrigued by some of the newer 2.0 flash based apps and sites (and by that I mean the whole site is in flash) and I was trying to get any specific issues, bugs,likes and dislikes that people have come across while using Flash as opposed to Ruby On Rails (or Django).I like Flash for doing animations, videos etc, smaller interactive pieces and I have always felt that client side Javascript libraries are not up to par with Flash (though with Firefox3, Safari and IE8 i wonder if it might be worth a try).For user driven customizations, a lot has been done via PHP and has been the base of social networking and blogging. I am sure Flash can allow this kind of customization (with a much superior user experience) however I don't know how hard it is to build sucha ?thing completely in Flash. Any thoughts?The same goes for recommendation algorithms that sits on servers and work very efficiently with PHP driven sites. Actually, the same can also be said about shopping carts since there are so many open source ones out there, and they all sync up so easily with PHP sites. I haven't looked into Flash working with PHP but I have not seen or heard of that many sites that run Flash with PHP and therefore i am?skeptical. Thoughts?Widget, modules and or any other scaled down version of the site is where I think Flash makes a very compelling case however I am looking into Google's opensocial. I frankly have had ?no experience with this but I know its crucial for widgets to not overwhelm the user or suffer from information overload, since that's a common widget problem. If anyone has used opensocial or wants to share anything regarding it, that will be great!Other than that, Flash has its own sets of issues, like not working with bots or web browser (back buton, URL bar, bookmarking)!Neway, THANKS A LOT?for your feedback everybody. If you have anything to add to this, that will be really great as well!Best,G----- Original Message ----
From: Chris <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2008 11:58:03 PM
Subject: Re: [ia-55] Flash vs. Non - Flash (for 2.0 sites, widgets and modules)
G,
Just from the way you phrased your question, I think it's interesting that in today's world, you really do have that kind of choice. The features you listed can be built in both HTML or FLASH based applications
For me, one question would be the technical team that was going to implement these features. Coders who do standards compliant xhtml/css/javascript are a lot easier to find than Flash developers with the same level of interface skills. If you are working with vendors, it's just as important to consider from a maintenance/operations pov.
You might also consider SEO and accessibility as part of the equation -- they both favor xhtml, but Flash solutions can accommodate them as well.
-ccOn Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 11:45 AM, G <[address removed]> wrote:
Hello People,Happy Friday!I am in a bit of fix and would like some help on this. I am assuming that most of us here have a strong understanding of backend and are familiar with flash and non flash technologies (ajax, Ruby on Rails etc etc). I would like to know if you are building a 2.0 site that has features like customization of content (think My Yahoo), contextual recommendation (think Netflix), Shopping cart (or adding to favorites) and plant to embed content to different sites (widgets and modules) - would you recommend using flash for such purposes (along with flex and XMLs) or do you think Javascript, CSS, PHP (or RoR) makes more sense. And if you are not too busy could you please take a few minutes to explain as to why you prefer one over another.Thanks a lot - I am just trying to understand this issue in-depth and see wht other people's take is on this since I have heard aware of both sides of the arguments and unable to make up my mind if one should be preferred over other.Again, thanks a lot!"G"
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by G ([address removed]) from The Los Angeles User Experience Meetup.
To learn more about G, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway New York NY 10012 USA
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Chris ([address removed]) from The Los Angeles User Experience Meetup.
To learn more about Chris, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway New York NY 10012 USA
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by G ([address removed]) from The Los Angeles User Experience Meetup.
To learn more about G, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway New York NY 10012 USAThis message was sent by Tom W ([address removed]) from The Los Angeles User Experience Meetup.
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
To learn more about Tom W, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway New York NY 10012 USA