Flash 99% Good: A Guide to Macromedia Flash Usability Book

Flash 99% Good addresses a critical issue: how can Flash sites combine great design with great usability? This is a book on design, and does not explain how to use Flash. Instead, it gives examples and tips on how to fashion Web sites that work for the user as well as looking good. The opening chapter neatly sets out the problem, explaining how designers value colour, shape and typography above more mundane features like flow, usability and download time. The authors continue with an assessment of the pros and cons of Flash, explaining how to evaluate a Web site's purpose and audience before deciding what technology to use or how to focus the design. A key chapter on navigation includes topics like learnability, consistency, and allowing the user to retrace their steps. Next comes a look at content, with good tips on text presentation, fonts and form design. The last chapters cover accessibility and user testing, a case study, and a peek into Flash futures. This title is printed on glossy paper and illustrated in full colour throughout. Short interviews with Flash designers are interspersed through the text, and each chapter closes with a handy summary. Although the subject matter is spot-on, the book falls short in some areas. There is too much on what not to do, the material is repetitive in places, and some of the explanations could do with more detail. On the plus side, the authors are themselves Flash designers and not ashamed to present their own work, even sometimes as examples of when things go wrong. In other words, the insights in the book come directly from real-world experience. It is a quick and easy read with a lot to offer, especially for Flash newcomers.--Tim AndersonRead More