[WEB4LIB] Re: flash image on our home page

[rich at richardwiggins.com]

Those who believe that Flash is a good thing at this point in Web history are not going to be dissuaded.  I have hated Flash splash screens since the first one I saw impeded my ability to get to the content I needed.  On the other hand, I've seen some Flash interfaces that are quite lovely.  But I still hate having to play a video game to get to my content.

Flashmeisters say "Oh, we can offer a Flash-free alternative URL for those who don't want Flash."  Yeah, right, that does a lot of good for the hapless dial-up first-time visitor who's just waiting for the thing to load.  

Let's turn this on its head.  I propose a simple convention:  "The" real home page for an institution should be:

  www.institution.org

The Flashmeisters can do their bidding at:

  flash.institution.org

In other words, make the spare, modem-friendly, needs-no-proprietary-players version the default -- not the other way around.  Those who need Flash will know where to find it.

/rich

PS -- maybe a different convention would also work:  Define a cookie named NoFlashforMe.  If it's present, all sites redirect to the non-flash home page.

_____________________________________________________

Richard Wiggins
Consulting, Writing, and Lecturing on Internet Topics
rich at richardwiggins.com  http://richardwiggins.com