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wow. that's what i call design

The whole site is that way too...
Once I spend 20 minutes admiring the home page I took a look at the other pages and found that everything is just beautifully laid out. I wish I had the talent that this man has! :eek:
 
I have never understood the appeal (or in this case, the "wow" factor) of a flash based website like the 2 posted here.

I can appreciate the work that went into them, but they are incredibly hard to navigate. To the point where I would rather close my tab and look for something different. I guess some of the animations on there are cool, but they aren't practical nor do they make me say "wow", more like "ugh"...

anyway just my £0.0100150225 (with the current exchange rate)
 
I have never understood the appeal (or in this case, the "wow" factor) of a flash based website like the 2 posted here.
anyway just my £0.0100150225 (with the current exchange rate)
Well I agree with the navigation part of it but sometimes we need to look at something with a different perspective. these sites are not so much about getting info as they are about having some fun.
Although the philosophy on the site poster by idea hamster was fun to read, and if I did not know where the heck I was on the leo site it was great fun looking for another link somewhere and watching ads about some products that I had not seen before.
And the execution of the site was really awsome if not easy to navigate.
my .02 inflation not withstanding
 
I have never understood the appeal (or in this case, the "wow" factor) of a flash based website like the 2 posted here.

I can appreciate the work that went into them, but they are incredibly hard to navigate. To the point where I would rather close my tab and look for something different. I guess some of the animations on there are cool, but they aren't practical nor do they make me say "wow", more like "ugh"...

anyway just my £0.0100150225 (with the current exchange rate)



Completely agree. That's why I stay away from developing websites in Flash. Good 'ole XHTML and CSS with the right design can look wonderful and be highly usable.
 
I've always been a fan of the work done by 2 Advanced Studios. Check out any of the websites they've done for other companies or check out their own site. Their site's archived version 3 is a nice one too. :)

For doing interactive motion graphics 2advanced is very good, but as far as website development goes they are terrible. They make really slick looking interactive Flash content, but horrible and difficult to use websites.
 
For doing interactive motion graphics 2advanced is very good, but as far as website development goes they are terrible. They make really slick looking interactive Flash content, but horrible and difficult to use websites.

Good to know, and I could see that. Knowing not much about web design myself I was impressed with their "flashy" Flash content ;) which I guess is what appeals to the average user/viewer as well. Optics and aesthetics are important, which they seem to have nailed pretty good, but at the end of the day the content representation, layout, navigation, etc. is all fundamentally more important as you say.
 
HTML/CSS is not intended to compete with multimedia technologies like Flash in terms of "WOW" factor.
It's little like comparing the WOW-factor of computer Solitaire with Doom3.
(I realize there are exceptions, but they are exactly that.)

The concept of "WOWing" the audience is often diametrically opposed to the utilitarian/pragmatic design philosophy purportedly embraced by many traditional web programmers.

"WOW" is more or less the domain of skilled designers, which often eschew arcane HTML/CSS tagging in favor of the more powerful WYSIWYG Flash environment. (personally, If I had to choose a single web programming language to learn, it would be Actionscript 3)
 
Of course, the definition of "wow" is subjective. I was personally looking for great design, an interesting environment that isn't necessarily functional. It's like fashion shows, some of the stuff you just wouldn't wear but it does demonstrate "wow" and what can be done in that context.
 
Crap, I have not even gotten beyond page one of this thread, it's so incredible! :eek: Love all the sites I have seen and I have already invited three to do business with me. :) I have to break off my ogling to post at least one contribution:

http://www.nonesuch.com/

:cool:
 
HTML/CSS is not intended to compete with multimedia technologies like Flash in terms of "WOW" factor.
It's little like comparing the WOW-factor of computer Solitaire with Doom3.
(I realize there are exceptions, but they are exactly that.)

The concept of "WOWing" the audience is often diametrically opposed to the utilitarian/pragmatic design philosophy purportedly embraced by many traditional web programmers.

"WOW" is more or less the domain of skilled designers, which often eschew arcane HTML/CSS tagging in favor of the more powerful WYSIWYG Flash environment. (personally, If I had to choose a single web programming language to learn, it would be Actionscript 3)

ditto what the OP said.
A visitor with good eyes, and a fast computer might say "wow" when they look at any of the sites posted. I found that each of them were flawed though to the point where I couldnt stay on them any longer. If I cant get to the part of the site I want fast then I see no need for me to stay there. The designer failed. End of story! Good design means that it looks great, and it is still easily navigable no matter what (screen rez, connection speed, user disabilities, os, browser, plugin support or lack of)

Javascript, html, and css are just as powerful as flash is. I have nothing against using correctly placed Flash. My position on Flash has always been "Nothing that is required to be able to use the website should be done in Flash". Flash is a proprietary plugin, some people may not want to use plugins, some people might not have access to the plugins, etc... A screen reader will have a hard time reading a flash file, someone who sets their text size to large in order to be able to read it better because they have bad eyes or whatever will have trouble reading flash text because flash doesnt adjust the text side because of a browser preference.

The best way to check if flash is over used is to turn off the plugin. If you can successfully browse the site with the plugin turned off then you have done your job, if you cant navigate your site then you need to see redesign your site!

---

In the end you will always be able to do amazing things with open technologies like Javascript, CSS, and XHTML nearly everything I have seen done with flash can be done using those 3 technologies. This way you preserve accessibility. Flash should replace the Animate Gif (as long has that gif was not needed to navigate/use the site), and embedded media like videos and audio (because Flash is the greatest common factor when it comes to plugins which are pretty much REQUIRED in order to view media like that).
 
...from a link here on MR.

It's still the capper in my book:

http://www.jonathanyuen.com/main.html

If I ever win the lottery or get venture capital to fund one of my half-baked ideas and hit it big, I'm having this guy do my site.

Very interesting from as an experiment into navigation and the guy definately has talent. I would say this has my curiousity than instantly made me go wow. However i do agree, I would hire this guy too! :)
 
Can someone post an example of an impressive site not created in Flash?
I keep reading about AJAX and HTML/CSS being "equal" to Flash (whatever the hell that's supposed to mean), but have yet to see an example of it.

ie: Something that functions like these sites, all of which IMO qualify for "wow" status:
http://www.jonathanyuen.com/main.html
http://www.leoburnett.ca/
http://www.hl2.com/
http://www.jrwh.com/
http://www.monolab.cl/

I don't get a "wow" from any of those because nothing comes up as I have flash blocked by default, and if there's nothing but flash on the site I don't bother looking any further.
 
I don't get a "wow" from any of those because nothing comes up as I have flash blocked by default, and if there's nothing but flash on the site I don't bother looking any further.

LOL, you have just joined 2% of the market that has Flash disabled.
BTW, you're missing out on cool sites such as youtube, kuler, etc...
For those who have Flash disabled, here's a "wow" site for you:
http://www.apple.com/
 
LOL, you have just joined 2% of the market that has Flash disabled.
BTW, you're missing out on cool sites such as youtube, kuler, etc...

YouTube is mostly crap and I've never heard of kuler so I'm not likely missing out. I can enable flash as I desire on sites that might be worth it, but it's rare since most of the flash out there is just ads still.
 
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