Good flash / Bad Flash

I came upon an example of how Flash can be used well at www.seewindowsvista.com. In response to my post about adobe "Mike" said that Flash is a great technology if it is used appropriately - which it is. But I quoted Jakob Nielsen: " Most of the Flash that Web users encounter each day is bad Flash with no purpose beyond annoying people ". That’s 'Most' - not 'all': as www.seewindowsvista.com proves, good flash exists.

Bad flash falls into two categories.Advertisers who will resort to aggressive animation to catch your attention (92% of people dislike moving adds, according to Neilsen's survey of most hated advertising techniques - a must read for anyone with anything to do with web advertising).The other category are the "Got nothing to say - say it with flash" sites, created for site owners who have never asked "who do I want to come to my site, and what do they want when they get here".

Marshal McLuhan's phrase "the medium is the message" ,has a lot to answer for The medium is NOT the message, the message is the message. Supposedly McLuhan meant that "Each medium, independent of the content it mediates, has its own intrinsic effects which are its unique message." His message has become twisted into a call for style over substance, and all too often that is where Flash is applied..