> Well, my nickname isn't "minimalist" for no reason at all. :)
See, that just illustrates the problems of minimalism. I had no idea that was your nickname, since I couldn't figure out that's what "min" referenced. > If only professionals were allowed to use it I'd probably > gripe about it less, but I suppose I've just ran into too > many sites that sit there loading for five minutes only to > show a presentation that looks worse (though more animated) > than their simple HTML version. Bad usage of a good tool isn't a valid criticism of the tool itself. By that standard, CF might be really really bad, since I've seen plenty of bad CF code. > ..which does bring up another issue: You pretty much do have > to offer a HTML version of a site anyway in most professional > cases so... you know. And if you do, then maybe Flash isn't the best choice. There's not going to be any one true "best" answer for every situation. It's a tool. Used appropriately, it's very powerful and good. > Then there is that pesky issue of it being a closed format. /-) Not like that COM programming you're usually doing, right? As for it being a closed format, it is a proprietary format, but it's not really closed. There are plenty of non-Macromedia tools that work with the Flash file format. > The major issue however is probably, as someone else noted, > whether you have broadband or not. Flash is very bandwidth > hungry. Broadband's not available in my region at any price. > (Well, I have talked to the telco about spending several thousand > to put a t1 to my house... but that's not an option for the > average consumer.) And according to recent reports installation > of new broadband capability has pretty fallen flat. Just remember, Flash doesn't kill bandwidth, people do. Flash needn't be as bandwidth-hungry as you'd think when viewing the vast majority of animated logos. Good Flash programmers can optimize it to be pretty efficient over low bandwidth - after all, it's vector graphics. > That's not to say I don't like the technology when it's used > well, just that for several reasons I don't think it's appropriate > to overuse it on non-intranet sites currently. I would agree with that, and would extend it as follows: I don't think it's ever appropriate to overuse anything. Where we may disagree is my feeling that Flash often makes better sense for web-based user interfaces than DHTML does. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ voice: (202) 797-5496 fax: (202) 797-5444 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
