Annual Web rant

Isn't it time? I'm thinking I am overdue. What the hell are people doing plunking stupid, uninformative Flash elements on their home page such that things like javascript fly-out menus get hidden by their really cool Flash, or that they get a stupid blank area right across the page?

An example here

Don't these people want to get their message across? Sell you their product?

OK I admit that maybe if you are running Genuine Microsoft Windows and Genuine Microsoft Internet Explorer then maybe you don't notice anything wrong because the publishers only tested with Genuine Internet Explorer and then called it a day. But I am *not* running Genuine Microsoft Windows or Genuine Microsoft Internet Explorer, ergo.... ergo....

RANT!

If you would just drink the cool-aid...

If I may commiserate in your rantation.
I had a desire to buy a Matchbox car this week.

If you go to the Matchbox Toys website without Flash enabled, all you get is a small little image telling you that "the site is cooler with Flash."
No link to a Flash-free version of the site.
No links to any information in the site.
No way to do anything whatsoever.

If you then opt to try to delve into Flash-world to get whatever information is buried there, you discover they have no way to search for local dealers.

You also discover that a Ford GT looks suspiciously like, well, not a Ford GT, but rather something quite a bit more British....

I guess the site serves a purpose for fun and excitement.
But I was ready to part with my money, and they gave me no way to do so.

Word to wise web wizards:
Flash may be fun. Flash may keep you amused.
But Flash may not bring you any more business.
Flash may annoy the ever-loving-hell out of your potential customers.

Amazon and Ebay know how to build sites to extract the maximum amount of money out of me in the minimum amount of time.

Watch and learn.

(Well, don't watch Ebay too closely. They're only usable when I adblock those annoying portfolio-of-my-other-crap applets that some people put at the bottom of their listings.)


No cool-aid for me, thanks. I'm on a diet.

-facepalm-
That's just silly.

And what's with the inability to 'search' via keywords? Have these people never been to a real website before?

At least it doesn't pop up a new window with nothing but the flash app that's the full size of your display. Those are fun.

I dealt with that exact issue a few weeks ago (div over Flash). It's a huge pain in the ass. If you do a search for 'div over flash' on Google, you'll see what I mean. In my case, I couldn't redesign the page, so I had to make it work as well as I could.

Anyway, I feel your pain.