From "Goodauthority.org", April 25, 2000

Is Flash Evil?

by Darrell Ray Elmore

According to dack.com, Flash is very, very, very evil. So evil, in fact, that they felt the need to write this rant:

"Flash has contributed to the amount of gratuitous animation on the Web, and unlike animated GIFs, Flash animations do not respond to your browser's Stop button or your keyboard's Esc key, so they cannot be easily turned off. Users must resort to either covering the offending animation with their hand, or, more likely, leaving the site altogether.

"By sporting significantly smaller file sizes than equivalent GIF animations, Flash has brought back the splash screen, one of the most irritating of all Web 'experiences.' Web users typically are looking for content, and presenting them with a content-free splash screen is a sure way to annoy, and give visitors a (good) reason to punt the site."

Well, I agree totally. That's why I try to keep annoying stuff to a minimum here at goodauthority.org, with the exception of Bill Brown. But, then again, I've seen some pretty cool stuff done with Flash. Sure, it's pretty much useless, flashy (excuse the pun) graphic self-abuse. But it's neat nonetheless. Take the Soulbath site. There's nothing there (really) but a lot of art and noise.

Not that there's anything wrong with noise and art. Quite frankly, I love it. But then again, I'm paid to surf around to these different sites, and if they don't do anything but entertain, well, I get paid anyway. However, there are quite a few serious folks out there who feel as though they aren't getting their money's worth when they are forced to sit through a long, tedious Flash presentation just to get to the meat of a site, and then, when they realize the Flash IS the meat, they get understandably upset.

Let's admit it, a quick perusal of the Media Metrix Top 50 Web properties shows us that Flash sites don't get a lot of hits. But so what? The majority of the really cool Flash sites are usually the product of serious commercial Web artists taking a break from building the latest banking site for a bunch of stiff corporate suits. They are, in effect, hobby sites, labors of love, truly art in every meaning of the word. And they are usually pretty cool. So, no, Flash is NOT inherently evil... just as corporations aren't evil. Unless they are.

My point? Flash is a dangerous thing, but, when used in the proper proportions, it can be very entertaining. Which is to say, it simply accomplishes the task of making the Web a little bit more like TV. And anyone who doesn't agree should be forced to sit through six episodes of Daddio, or made to log onto 0100101110101101 every day for at least an hour.

Like the man said, "Life is serious, but art is fun."

 

Important URLs

Flash is Evil
Soulbath
0100101110101101