• News

Friendly Flash Website? No Way!

Do you know why I hate flash websites? BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS LOAD FOR AGES! Photos in the photo galleries, portfolio of design studios – they all make me feel mad when I have to wait 15 seconds while the website is loading, then 5 seconds when the pop-ups with the texts are loading and then about 2-5 seconds for every image in portfolio! No, that’s not because I have slow connection that is because most of the flash websites are heavy and awful. Even when there’s some interesting animation it suddenly stops and then moves and then stops again… do you know what I mean?

Hey people, if you make something in flash make sure it’s fast. It took me several weeks and hundreds of various flash websites to prepare the small collection of websites you can see below. They are simply perfect so be sure to check them and I also described in brief what’s so great about them.В  Don’t let your website visitor leave just because you think that all flash websites work slow, the experience is completely different with the websites below.

Eco Zoo

Website: www.ecodazoo.com
I was amazed how quickly the website loads and it never showed any type of the preloader or anything when playing around. It’s a great interactive thing, drag the “tree” with your mouse up and down to see different characters, you can also rotate it with the mouse. Choose a book from the small pop-up of the character and you’ll be taken to a separate small charming website! Don’t forget to use your mouse there as well, you can rotate every scene. This is a real piece of flash art and papervision!

***

Troyt Coburn

Website: www.troytcoburn.com
This is a flash portfolio of a Troyt Coburn, photographer. Things that I like about it:
– it loads quickly
– it’s obvious where to click to get inside ( what I don’t like is that it opens in the new window)
– you can click anywhere on the page and the menu shows up- pretty convenient
– you can choose the full view or the thumbnail view
– click anywhere on the photo to get back to the main menu or move to the next previous images. I was kinda missing the arrows for the next and previous on the right and left of the image but, without them you simply pay more attention to the photo itself.

***

Capsulecreative

Website: www.capsulecreative.com
Quick, bright and smart. You don’t have to click anywhere on the home page, just roll-over and the needed info will show up. To go to portfolio click on Part One or Part Two. I don’t like that portfolio opens in the new window but the photos load fantastically quick. I hate waiting while the images load and this portfolio is perfect in this sense. Perfect stuff! While you wait for a few seconds for the photo to show up they show you another photo so you are not getting bored.

***

Tom Nagy

Website: www.tomnagy.com
First thing that I was surprised with- they offer you two version of the website- one with the large supercrisp pictures, the other one with the photos in portfolio presented in 1024*768. Isn’t this a nice ad on photographer’s portfolio website? I have chosen the usual photos and the next page that loaded was the first photo in the portfolio and the menu over it. If you want to see the pics and don’t need the menu, simply click anywhere on page and the menu will disappear. The icons on the right give you controls over portfolio and you can call the main menu back if needed.

***

Artpartner

Website: www.artpartner.com
You know what I like about this one? It’s working exactly in a way as if it was an HTML website with some super effects. You’ll know what I mean once you check it.

***

Tali Kimelman

Website: www.talikimelman.com
Another flash portfolio but with the special usability approach to viewing photos. Chose some category to browse. I could never imagine images can load so fast. Now, just scroll with your mouse anywhere on the image area. See what I mean? You don’t even have to click to see the next image. Take a note of this one.

***

Pylinsky Eugeniy

Website: www.p-e.kiev.ua
Portfolio of a Ukrainian flash designer. Though it irritated me a bit to wait while it was loading, the content inside is definitely worth the waiting time. It’s funny, user-friendly and shows the skills of this developer.

***

Normann-Copenhagen

Website: www.normann-copenhagen.com
A very user friendly website with nice navigation and great portfolio. Images load fast and it’s it’s pretty convenient to jump from page to page. Love this one, great example of usability.

***

VaryWell

Website: www.varywell.com
This is the sudio of Ryan and Jason Hickner. When you enter the website simply use the wheel in your mouse to scroll through the projects. Roll over the colored sphere ( colored squares on the gray earth background look very attractive and you intuitively know this is something interesting to click on) to the the short project info and click on the square to get the pop-up with details. If you want to get back to the list of projects, just scroll a bit. And what’s most important for me, there’s no waiting time anything on the site! Great work!

***

Burton design group

Website: www.burtondesigngroup.com
I don’t like the style or design of this website but I can’t help saying that this is a great example of a GOOD flash website. No special effects but menus, submenus, images and info areas helped this website not to loose a visitor in my face. I’m fine with images taking 1 second to load with the preloader showing, 1 or 2 seconds is the time that I can allow to wait.

***

Publicis Macedonia

Website: www.publicis-mk.com
Damn, how beautiful this website is! Roll-0ver the arrow on the right to get the main menu, click bottom right to get the portfolio thumbnails. Choose services from the main menu and you’ll get 5 red shits to choose from, click on any to get the detailed info. Now roll-over the main menu again, the services pages will become almost transparent. Great feature, love it. They have video in portfolio but this doesn’t increase the loading time. One image on lots of websites will load longer than 15 videos from their portfolio! Chose some project to view. Simply click outside the pop-up area to get back to the list of projects.

***

Women Secret

Website: www.womensecret.com
Shopping has never been easier. This website is at the very top of flash perfection and user friendliness.

***

Xpolab

Website: www.xpolab.com
The site loads in just 2 seconds. Now roll over the commercials? Surprising, isn’t it? This is a website of a freelancer. I wonder is large companies can’t afford something that works quick not speaking about it being unique.

***

Moment for Coffee

Moment of coffee website and time for a break for me. Great website worth your attention.

Surprised? You can try to make your flash website on your own without any special skills needed. Try to use Flash CMS. If you are looking for something cool and attractive check out the following list of flash component collections which is easy to embed into your flash website:
– flash component reviews by Jack
– flash components blog written by Anny