Why We Hated Flash

Years ago, one of Flash’s biggest strikes against it was that it used a lot of bandwidth.  Web sites containing Flash took forever and a day to download on a slow Internet connection, but high speed Internet has become the norm (at least in most areas of the United States).

Another argument against Flash was that it was not search engine friendly.  However, since mid-2008 Google has been able to index text and follow URLs contained in SWF files.  It’s true that other search engines might not be able to index Flash, but that doesn’t have much relevance as long as Google continues to dominate the search world.

Finally, Flash requires a plug-in in order to work.  But these days, many computers come with the plug-in already installed.  If not, the user is normally prompted to download Flash and provided with a link to the download page, making it easy for most people to install it.

So why did an innovative company like Apple purposely leave out a technology that is so widely used?

Why the iPad doesn’t support Flash

As far as I know, Apple hasn’t released a statement as to why the iPad doesn’t support Flash.  However, there is a lot of speculation going on in the blogosphere.  Here’s a summary of what other people are saying:

1. Flash is a resource hog. It uses a significant amount of CPU and drains the battery.  The iPads 10 hour battery life would be significantly reduced if it supported Flash.  Mac OS X users have long complained that Flash freezes up their browser or crashes their computer.  Maybe Apple thought that eliminating Flash meant eliminating headaches.
2. HTML5 has the potential to replace Flash. HTML5 allows you to embed audio and video directly into a web page without using a plug-in. It also works along with Javascript to allow you to insert interactive animations - no Flash required. See a cool example of an HTML5 animation here.
   
3. Flash is a usability nightmare. I recently experienced this first-hand with an online shopping cart that was completely designed in Flash.  Navigation was a disaster.  I couldn’t use the back button without being forced to completely start over.  When I tried to use the search box to find an item, it stalled…and I once again had to start over.
4. Security is questionable. Flash security flaws exist that have been deemed unpatchable by Adobe themselves.  How scary is that?

Many anti-Flash commentators also pointed out that Flash blockers are some of the most highly downloaded add ons for Firefox and other browsers.  Flashblock, for example, has been downloaded more than 8 million times.  This leads me to believe that although the use of Flash has increased, not everyone has embraced it.

So the question remains:  Is Flash about to make a quick exit or are Web designers so used to relying on this technology that they will be resistant to change?  Will Apple’s non-support of Flash help force their hand?  Only time will tell.

What do you think?  Leave your thoughts in the comments box and let’s discuss it!

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“Do my videos give my customers content that is unique and interesting?  Is it valuable enough that they are willing to spend their precious time watching it?”

Compelling content that is targeted to your customer is important, even in online videos.  Content is what increases the time people spend on your web site and decreases your bounce rate.

But if you are convinced your video content is first rate and people still aren’t sticking around to watch it, there could be several other factors playing into the mix.

It could be that your viewers are in situations where they either:

1. Can’t turn up the volume
2. Can’t hear or understand the audio

It makes perfect sense when you think about it. In public places such as an office, library, or coffee shop, and sometimes even in the privacy of their own homes, people are hesitant to turn up the volume because they don’t want to disturb those around them.

On the other end of the spectrum, people are often in loud situations and environments where they can’t hear the audio over the background noise.

There are also those who can’t hear what’s being said on videos due to hearing loss.  Statistics show 36 million people in the United States alone suffer from hearing loss, with more than half of them under the age of 65. (It’s not just old folks, young people are affected, too).

If you’re thinking that there’s nothing you can do about this – that the situation is out of your control – you are wrong.  There is one very simple solution that will solve all of these issues and that is:

Caption or subtitle your videos!

According to a trial done at PLYmedia, people will spend up to 40% more time watching videos that have captions or subtitles.  The trial also showed that when captions or subtitles appeared in the video, 80% more people watched the video in its entirety compared to the same video without captions.

That tells us that captioning your videos is a powerful tool that works to keep people watching for a longer period of time.  It knocks down barriers and eliminates excuses.

If that doesn’t completely convince you to caption your videos, than this might:  It’s a good possibility that search engines will soon be able to index the text contained in videos.  They can already index the text in Flash files, so the technology to index video files is very likely just a heartbeat away.

No matter how you look at it, stats like these simply cannot be ignored, in my humble opinion.  There is a need out there that is waiting to be filled.  I believe smart marketers will be quickly moving on this information and adding captioning to their videos. Will you be one of them?

Related posts:
Should You Use Video on Your Blog or Web Site?

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“Can you design the web site first and then add the copy later?” they would ask.  Not knowing any better, and wanting to be agreeable, I would always say yes.

So while I designed the web site, the client would plug away at the copy. And that’s where all the problems began.

You see, writing copy for a web site is often a clarification process.  What begins as a general and rather vague idea for a web site becomes more focused and specific as words are put on paper.

As my clients began to clarify what they needed, their vision for the design of the web site often changed.  Sometimes the changes were dramatic, involving an entire rework of the logo, images, and layout. Other times, the changes were more simple, such as additional navigation links or a second or third column.

Either way, it ended up being more work on my end.  And since I charged by the project and not by the hour, I became frustrated by the extra time I had to put in to get the project done. All of which could have been avoided had the copy had been completed first.

Eventually, I learned my lesson.  These days, I insist that my clients have the copy at least 90% completed and finalized before I will start on a design or redesign.

Advertising Always Begins With Words

When you think of how other advertising methods are developed, it’s easy to see why web site design should begin with the words.  After all, who would shoot a TV commercial without having the narrative in place?  Or design a newspaper or magazine ad without knowing what it’s going to say?

It simply isn’t done, because it would be inefficient.  Likewise, it is inefficient to design a web site first and then write the copy for it later.

Start With the Home Page

While there are no hard and fast rules as to what page should be written first, the home page is a perfect starting point.

Writing the home page copy will help you determine what other pages you will need on your site.  And it will help you focus on your customer and what they expect to find on your web site.

One client of mine, while researching her customer’s preferences during the copywriting process, discovered that her target audience wouldn’t be attracted to her original logo and graphics.  She ended up having everything redone.  Her original look was meant to convey her service as fun and unpredictable, while her redesigned look conveyed her service as something that is highly valued and treasured, which is exactly what appealed to those she wanted to attract.

The next time you prepare for a web site design or redesign, focus on the copy first and the design second.  Doing so will result in a process that saves time and money, all while helping to ensure that your web site is focused is on your customer.

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From the birth of the Internet, people have been taking the rules of text alignment for print and applying them to the screen. But onscreen reading is up to 25% slower and causes more eye strain than reading something in print. Therefore, the text alignment guidelines that work beautifully for print almost always cause readability issues when used online.

How People View / Scan / Read Web Pages

In order to understand why a certain alignment works and others don’t, we first need to understand how people view web pages, scan web pages and read web pages.

Eyetracking studies have shown us that when someone arrives at a web site, their eye is immediately drawn to the upper left hand corner of the web page. From there, the eye moves down the left side of the page, occasionally moving horizontally towards the right. This particularly occurs towards the top of the page and less so while moving further down a page. The result is an “F” shaped eye movement pattern.

This is really no surprise, is it? From the time we sat on Mom or Dad’s lap with our first book, we have been programmed to start reading in the upper left corner of the left page. We read from left to right. This learned behavior carries over from print reading to screen reading.

The primary difference between the two is that people tend to scan web pages and only read what they’ve determined to be of importance to them, rather than reading straight from beginning to end as they do with a book.

Why Left Alignment Rules Online

When text is aligned to the left on a web page, the eye can easily and comfortably follow the straight edge as it moves down the left side of the page or column. Therefore, it is the alignment that is preferred for both scanning and reading online.

Most likely, you are sitting there with a smug look on your face and patting yourself on the back for being smart enough to use left alignment. But are you really? What about headings and subheadings? Are you left-aligning those as well, or have you fallen into the trap of centering them so they “stand out?”

In addition, what alignment are you using for navigation links, ads and testimonials? Most people find themselves using center alignment for these things. Why? The reason is three-fold:

1. It feels comfortable.
2. It’s a way to make these elements “stand out,” or to draw attention to them.
3. It’s what everyone else is doing.

Yes, center alignment does feel comfortable. And quite frankly, it will be more than a mite uncomfortable to break away from using it. But it interrupts the flow of people who are scanning when their eye has to jump to a section in the middle of the page. As a matter of fact, your readers may be intentionally skipping over those center-aligned headings and subheadings that we all know are such an integral part of web site copy. GASP!

Here’s a suggestion. Instead of using center alignment to make your heading, subheadings, etc. stand out, align them to the left and use a larger and bolder font size for them. Using a different color is also a consideration, but use caution. Colored text can also cause readability issues.

Sure, everyone else is center aligning like crazy. That means a lot of web sites are difficult to read and causing unnecessary eyestrain on their poor visitors. But by left aligning your text, you’ll keep your web site visitors blissfully reading and sticking around, which is exactly where you want them.

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But it’s important to use caution when straying from what’s familiar.  This is especially holds true when it comes to web site terminology.  People have become accustomed to using certain words and phrases to describe specific web site elements.  When you change them in an effort to be clever or creative, the end result is most often confusion.

A good example would be a recent change made at BlogCatalog, a blog directory/social networking site I belong to.  BlogCatalog stated in their September newsletter that due to confusion, they would be changing the terminology of their blog “neighborhoods” to blog “favorites.”

If you are thinking, “What the heck is a blog neighborhood?” apparently a lot of other people were wondering the same thing!  Simply put, a “neighborhood” was a place on your BlogCatalog account where you could add blogs you liked.  Most people know this as “bookmarking” a site, or adding it to “favorites.”  The folks at BlogCatalog must have initially thought that using the term “neighborhood” was a clever way to stand out…a way to be different.

But it ended up backfiring.  People didn’t recognize the terminology.  Most (including me) had no idea what “neighborhoods” were.  As a result, BlogCatalog decided to change blog “neighborhoods” to blog “favorites,” a term that people are familiar with and instantly recognize.

Let’s take a look at a few other web site elements where it’s wise to stick with terms that are well-known:

• Navigation - Use terms that are familiar, no matter how boring or overused they may seem.  The Home page should be referred to as the Home page, the About page should be named exactly that, and so on and so forth.
• Shopping carts - Call a shopping cart what it is – a cart.  Studies have shown that using other terms such as bag, basket, buggy, etc. are not as well accepted or recognized by web site users.
• Buttons – Label form buttons by what their function is and resist the urge to label them with cute or clever words or phrases.  For example, contact form submit buttons should be labeled “submit,” search form buttons should be labeled “search,” and subscription form buttons should be labeled “subscribe.”

When it comes to web site terminology, don’t leave people second guessing.  Stick with what’s familiar and intuitive and your customers will stick around.

Remember, it’s always about the customer.

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