Flash 99% Good: A Guide to Macromedia Flash Usability - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0072222875 ISBN 13: 9780072222876

Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media, 2002

Synopsis

In this guide, the authors discusses the balance between design and usability from the perspective of a Flash designer and an information architect. They focus on good content by providing design approaches to typography, graphics and animation.

About this title

Review:

In an October 2000 article, "Flash 99% Bad," usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote, "About 99% of the time, the presence of Flash on a website constitutes a usability disease." Flash 99% Good: A Guide to Macromedia Flash Usability is a new look at the good and the bad of Flash today. Authors Kevin Airgid and Stephanie Reindel, a developer/designer and information architect, respectively, counter that, with a knowledgeable implementation of Flash, "form and function can coexist." Let’s face it, there’s a lot of indulgent Flash out there, and whether you’re the client, the project manager, or a member of the creative team, you may want to read this before you start your next project.

The book is not really a how-to; it’s more like a critique (or harangue) accompanied by screenshots (in color), personal asides, and interviews (for example, Adries Odendaal of the entrancing Wireframe Studio and even Kevin Lynch, Chief Software Architect at Macromedia). Topics include knowing your audience, creating clear navigation (including a usable "back" button), providing workable content (for example, enabling a print feature, bookmarking, Flash forms), accessibility issues, and the future of Flash. And there’s a chapter-long case study of one of Airgid’s designs (iconideas.com), which makes interesting reading. Makeovers are always fun.

The book is stridently opinionated. For example, they write, "Designers naturally rank color, shapes, and typography above information flow, usability, and download time." (If you’re a designer you may "naturally" bristle at that remark!) Oddly, these reductive comments make the book more interesting, like a line drawn in the sand--you want to see how they prove themselves worthy of painting such blatant stereotypes.

And they manage that with lots of advice, some of which you’ll adopt in your own work, some of which you’ll scoff at, and some of which is already moot with Flash MX (for example, aspects of accessibility design). Flash 99% Good offers experience-backed insights, plenty of personal pet peeves, and expert interviews. You may not always agree with what they prescribe, but they’ll make you think twice before you whip up your next Flash brainchild. --Angelynn Grant

From the Back Cover:

Design Creative "and Highly Usable Flash Web Sites

Within the professional Web design community, nothing is as important as attracting visitors and keeping them informed, happy, and ready to visit again. Flash is a key player in this equation, with the capacity to either transform your Web site into an engaging one, rich with motion and life, or mire it in overwhelming design and navigational difficulties. By exploring the relationship between the designer and usability expert, Award-winning Flash designer Kevin Airgid and widely respected information architect Stephanie Reindel present a solid program for conceiving, designing, testing, and succeeding with Flash design. "Flash 99% Good: A Guide to Macromedia Flash Usability shows you definitively how integrate eye-popping visuals with friendly, easy-to-follow navigation.Explore key standards and theories that can best serve both designers and information architects Achieve optimal results with the right mix of design and usability Reference fast facts to review material and quickly apply useful techniques to your Flash development Discover expert approaches to typography, graphics, and animation Understand your target audience and define site and user goals Test and incorporate feedback on accessibility, usability, and design

Includes Interviews with:

Kevin Lynch, Chief Software Architect, Macromedia

James Baker, WDDG

Andries Odendaal, Wireframe Studio

Sebastien Chevrel, Second Story

About this edition

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Osborne Media
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0072222875
• ISBN 13: 9780072222876
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240