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Subject:Re: The Question of animation From:"Brierley, Sean" <Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 2 Aug 1999 16:48:19 -0400
Hallo:
Graphics animation? Know your audience.
A cop out, you say? Well, if a customer is plunking down a chunk of change
and wants you to design a slick website, they might mean easy-to-navigate,
quick-to-load, no-need-to-download-accessory-programs, and using graphics
that are *not* obviously stock clip art. On the other hand, they might mean
they want Flash animations and sound, with spinning applet navigation tools
that make the site look programmed.
Interview them.
Are the people who surf the web truly your customer? Yes. However, most
times they don't cut the cheque and oftentimes they (and their e-mails) do
not have access to the people who do cut the cheque. For example, if you
create a site that has no applets and is slick and easy to navigate, and you
get yahoos sending complaints that the site is Neanderthal, that they can do
it better, and that the site does not attract their attention in a positive
way. If you create the Java applet and Flash site, you get e-mails about how
long the site takes to download, how distracting it is, and how the site
needs to be reworked by a mature designer.
Hmmmph. Everyone's a critic and they are *not* all right.
So, while it is a faux-pas to use <blink> every </blink> three <blink> words
</blink>, and while I might often find animated gifs and clipart annoying,
and while it sometimes drives me nuts to have to drill through some moronic
Flash artshow to find out what products a company offers at what price,
there are other valid and different opinions. Animations are not
categorically right or wrong. Know your audience.
>>>
>>>I should note that as I write this, some brainiac on our intranet has
>>>discovered the flying text capabilities of DHTML, and so now
>>>whenever I bring
>>>up the main page on the intranet I have to wait and watch as
>>>each individual
>>>word in the Important News Bulletin flies in from off page. Oh joy.
>>>
And that fellow might have a different audience in mind. He might be
learning new skills and padding his resume on company time . . .. <vbg>
