Re: Cry babies...

[Matt Gitchell]

Tracy wrote:


> Regarding viewers and how willing they should or shouldn't be to wait ... I

> believe that an audience who is looking for artwork is more willing to wait

> for a longer download. But an audience who is looking for information is

> going to become frustrated at anything that holds them up for so long.

> Alan's interface's function is to present financial information, so his

> viewers are likely to be in a more impatient mindset. That's just the way

> it is.


This is spot on.

I've always been a proponent of tiny file sizes, and although the overall file

size may not matter so much in Flash, it's important that you get people

something to see quick.

Like 3-5 seconds quick, I'd say.

I think another mistake that's often made is to put a big animation upon

download that people can't escape from.

Apologetically (as John C. has been more than helpful to yours truly), I'm

going to pick on www.FlashCentral.com for a second.

If I go there and select "gallery," there's an animation that sets up all the

menu choices. Fair enough.

But if I go to Macromedia's gallery, then hit my "back" button, I have to sit

through _both_ animations, which takes like 30 seconds.

Granted, I'm probably a top candidate for a Ritalin prescription, but I think

providing people with a means of clicking through the setups is probably wise.

Instant gratification should at least be an option.

I made this same mistake on the first (Flash) incarnation of

http://www.coloradoavalanche.com where there was a 15-20 sec animation sequence

whenever you entered that page.

I eventually added an escape hatch in the form of a "skip" button (before

removing it all together after my hockey team got eliminated...snif).


I think this diaper is starting to chafe...


--Matt

----------------------

Matt Gitchell

ersatz multimedia cat

mattgnavidec [dot] com

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