Lots to like in this site, the flash intro really isn’t one of these things.
It looks out of place and doesn’t add anything, I’m not a big flash hater but this really could have been done via javascript and with more consistency with the rest of the design.
You could not have done those motion effects with JavaScript. I disagree it looks out of place and think it adds a lot to the design as well as it lets me know what the sites about with a 5 second intro, rather than having to go looking for myself.
@rich – I realise that it couldn’t have been reproduced with javascript but something less “whizz-bang!” would have worked just as well and fitted better with the overall design.
Just my opinion of course, but the flash intro really put me off, it felt like a throw-back to the start of the last decade, not the start of this decade.
Couple of things to add to the flash intro debate, the only issue I have with flash intros like that is having to load it and watch it again every time you go back to the homepage… Bit annoying.
Also with regards to the slider, I think this could have worked so much better if it was just the content that slid, and not the background texture, the breaks on the right and left are a little unsightly.
Overall though, a really nice site, I like the sidebar social media links, they are quite smart, and the overall colour pallette is pleasing.
The text on the bottom is way to light and not enough contrast to compared to the background image. Just a little thing though
Great site – lots of inspiration here. I agree with Rob and to have the content and not the background image to make it a little more cohesive…devil’s in the details.
I’m not keen on the Flash either. A good website guides a user on a path – the who, what, why etc. The user can break off at any time and decide which of these to look at and the site should make that process easy for them. When you get a Flash intro just hitting you in the face like that you’ve got to stop and watch it or if you don’t, it annoyingly plays on anyway.
Not saying the Flash is bad on this website, I just hate it’s use in general. Keep it for media playing only.
Wait, what are you guys complaining about? The Flash was only in the banner. It’s not like you couldn’t click anywhere or couldn’t skip it.
Also, one thing that I’d like to bring up is that the agency I am part of has been doing a lot of internal testing on the retention of users, and it might not come as a surprise to some of you, but a Flash video with a big “play” button resulted in much greater overall retention than using HTML images and text + JS when users were presented with information, especially with age groups outside of the 18-32 region.
In a nutshell: a well-made short video explaining what your product is about and what it can do will give you significantly greater ROI than using text and images to do so.
12 Comments
I love it!
Lots to like in this site, the flash intro really isn’t one of these things.
It looks out of place and doesn’t add anything, I’m not a big flash hater but this really could have been done via javascript and with more consistency with the rest of the design.
You could not have done those motion effects with JavaScript. I disagree it looks out of place and think it adds a lot to the design as well as it lets me know what the sites about with a 5 second intro, rather than having to go looking for myself.
Nice site..even I think this background is really strange! Good work.
@rich – I realise that it couldn’t have been reproduced with javascript but something less “whizz-bang!” would have worked just as well and fitted better with the overall design.
Just my opinion of course, but the flash intro really put me off, it felt like a throw-back to the start of the last decade, not the start of this decade.
Couple of things to add to the flash intro debate, the only issue I have with flash intros like that is having to load it and watch it again every time you go back to the homepage… Bit annoying.
Also with regards to the slider, I think this could have worked so much better if it was just the content that slid, and not the background texture, the breaks on the right and left are a little unsightly.
Overall though, a really nice site, I like the sidebar social media links, they are quite smart, and the overall colour pallette is pleasing.
The text on the bottom is way to light and not enough contrast to compared to the background image. Just a little thing though
Great site – lots of inspiration here. I agree with Rob and to have the content and not the background image to make it a little more cohesive…devil’s in the details.
Excellent site with a very creative logo!!
The Flash intro reminded me of Fringe’s intro to the show the color and texture.
Good site though.
Amazing, unconventional background! But this style don’t suit to the topic in my opinion.
Love the background and colours.
I’m not keen on the Flash either. A good website guides a user on a path – the who, what, why etc. The user can break off at any time and decide which of these to look at and the site should make that process easy for them. When you get a Flash intro just hitting you in the face like that you’ve got to stop and watch it or if you don’t, it annoyingly plays on anyway.
Not saying the Flash is bad on this website, I just hate it’s use in general. Keep it for media playing only.
I like the flash element and think it was well played to have a “skip intro” option for those not enjoying the wait.
Wait, what are you guys complaining about? The Flash was only in the banner. It’s not like you couldn’t click anywhere or couldn’t skip it.
Also, one thing that I’d like to bring up is that the agency I am part of has been doing a lot of internal testing on the retention of users, and it might not come as a surprise to some of you, but a Flash video with a big “play” button resulted in much greater overall retention than using HTML images and text + JS when users were presented with information, especially with age groups outside of the 18-32 region.
In a nutshell: a well-made short video explaining what your product is about and what it can do will give you significantly greater ROI than using text and images to do so.
People simply “prefer” not to read.