Brandon Rome

Today, I Argued Against Flash (Again)

I don't know when people will realize it isn't 1993 any longer. I had to argue against using Flash for a full website, again, this morning. I wrote up a little pros & cons list, from my point of view:

PROS

• Something "different"
• It's pretty (if done well)

CONS

• Restricts audience
  • Visually challenged
    • no text enlarging/zooming for those who have problems seeing
    • no screen reader access for the blind
  • Language translators
    • If I pull up some .jp page on Chrome or the like, I can easily translate it to English. Flash doesn't allow for this
  • Physically challenged
    • You can't tab through links or navigate w/ arrow keys, which may be essential for some hemiplegics
• Hinders search engine results
  • Search engines can't pull content from a .swf file
  • On most search engines, you actually hinder your rankings by just having a swf file include on your index page & nothing more robust
  • Other users & sites can't link to your content, just your index page. This makes for more generalized and less specific search engine results (this is a bad thing)
    • For instance, if I wanted to sent you to a list of Cox Conserves partners, I'd have to tell you to go to their site, go to get involved, and our partners, versus just sending a URL
    • If IBEC wanted to link to a Grid2020 article, we couldn't easily do it- we'd have to write up a few lines telling users to go to your site and 'click the following items'
• Hardware/software accessibility issues
  • Larger load times make the site less desirable on anybody w/ a slower connection
  • If you don't have Flash (or a specific version of Flash), you can't view the site
  • Doesn't play well with most mobile phones
• Breaks standard, understood web browser fundamentals
  • You can't bookmark specific pages
  • You can't use the browser's Back button to go back to something you just had pulled up
  • Ctrl+f (find in page) doesn't work

I'd love to hear if you agree, disagree, or any other points I left off, or maybe I'm wrong about.
Hit me up on the twitters.

Ask Two Questions

Am I having fun right now? Is this what I've set out to do?

Yes/Yes: Keep it up.
Yes/No: Do it for a moment longer. Then, get back on track with what life demands.
No/Yes: Ugh. Push through, then treat yourself to some Yes/* time.
No/No: Stop. Don't do it.

Jason Fried: Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work

You don't need to outdo the competition. It's expensive and defensive. Underdo your competition. We need more simplicity and clarity.

- Jason Fried

Check out Jason's other writings through his company's blog, 37signals' Signal vs. Noise, and his twitter handle, @jasonfried.

I grew up with the thought that I wanted to treat people the way I'd like to be treated, and I think if you do that, it's pretty hard to go wrong.

- Nolan Ryan

Back at it, for the time being

I put this little blog together because of some recent things I wanted to share/bookmark, and basically, twitter wasn't cutting it. So, here I am. Things shall be random, and things might jump around from 1 point to another w/o any segway. But read, or don't read: that's your choice. :)

I built the design after looking through dozens of tumblr themes that didn't quite have the look I wanted. I actually almost had it as a completed tumblr theme, which I should revisit sometime. It's surprisingly easy to customize their blog design / share that design with others / allow them to customize colors, etc.

There is a backend in the works, as well as relavent pages (about, tools, etc). It's all pretty useless, so feel free to overlook everything.

Off-topic (I warned you that this would happen), I want to share a quote I saw on @tinybuddha:

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

- Anne Frank

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