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Subject:	Re: FLASH: Shoutout Board!
From:	Bernard Claydon
Date:	Fri, 24 Sep 1999 02:05:29 +0100

AX,

Great work!

On the downside, I'd say 'aving a shout (if that's the correct terminology)
is less than user-friendly and maybe I missed it, but having decided not to
leave a shout, there was no way to quit, go back, do something else.. Given
that the whole point of the thing is to get everyone to leave a message of
some sort, I think you should make that bit as familiar and easy to use as
possible - at least have clearly defined text boxes.

That quibble aside, it looks good and works very well and I am sure a lot of
people on this list would like one on their own site..

I haven't managed to learn PERL yet and find out why I can't get my
guestbook to work properly (it currently sends me an email and I will
manually place any entries... not too onerous a task yet because very few
people know where to find it anyway - and no! I am not ready to post the URL
on this list! It's not finished... and won't be until I overcome the Mac
Actionscript Bugginess dilemma.. but that's another story [thread])

I downloaded the only working example of a Flash guestbook that I have found
(I think it may have been the Amussen(?) site, but I can't find it again..)
but "going under the hood" on CGI scripts as well as getting to grips with
Javascript AND Actionscript is interesting but not where I feel I should be
focussing my limited brain-power.

This is getting long-winded. I hope you are still paying attention. All I
am trying to say is: TELL US HOW YOU DID IT! - please.

It will earn you long-lasting kudos - which you can exploit to make lots of
money. If you were to take the trouble to design a really easy-to-understand
tutorial for dummies (that even fairly smart Flashers with little time would
appreciate) you could quickly get loads of traffic to your site... You may
even put yourself up there with the trail-blazing Flash pioneers that are
rapidly attaining folk-lore status.. I think we know to whom I refer..

Why should I have to work it out for myself when there are programmers with
Pentium thingies to do it? I am a designer goddammit! I like to make things
that function and look good.

IMnotsoHO, Flash guestbooks/message/shoutout boards have the potential to be
a really popular medium for communication - in a casual, light-hearted, but
mostly entertaining manner (or not) - IF they are fast and easy to operate.
Somewhere between a chat room and a mailing list. The sort of thing that
encourages people to actually return to your site and builds a sense of
'community' - which is at least a couple of the things that we are supposed
to be aiming for..

I have meandered enough - for now.

AX, FWIW I think it's brill - please share!

Bernard C

> >Kind of a cross between a guestbook and a bulletin board!
> >Check it out, post some jibberish... whatever....
> >Have fun......
> >
> >http://www.artclique.com/intra/flashed/13.html
> >
> >Let me know how it runs for ya.
>

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