Marin joins the unusable Flash based website club

[landotter]

Old website:
http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycles_2006/html/bikes/m_bikes.html

It was about as to the point and quick to navigate as ya can get.

New website:
http://www.marinbikes.com/2008/us/bikes/bikes_collection.php

Slower and far more confusing.

It seems to be an industry trend. Thank goodness our old friends at
Jamis and Breezer are sticking with html:

http://www.breezerbikes.com/bikes.cfm
http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/index.html

I'm venturing that the Flash based websites are said to be stiffer and
more vertically compliant?

 

[Tom Sherman]

landotter who? wrote:
> Old website:
> http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycles_2006/html/bikes/m_bikes.html
>
> It was about as to the point and quick to navigate as ya can get.
>
> New website:
> http://www.marinbikes.com/2008/us/bikes/bikes_collection.php
>
> Slower and far more confusing.
>
> It seems to be an industry trend. Thank goodness our old friends at
> Jamis and Breezer are sticking with html:
>
> http://www.breezerbikes.com/bikes.cfm
> http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/index.html
>
> I'm venturing that the Flash based websites are said to be stiffer and
> more vertically compliant?

Website designers who forget the Keep It Simple Stupid principle should
be taken out behind the woodshed.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
POST FREE OR DIE!

 

[landotter]

On Dec 27, 8:39 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
wrote:
> landotter who? wrote:
> > Old website:
> >http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycles_2006/html/bikes/m_bikes.html
>
> > It was about as to the point and quick to navigate as ya can get.
>
> > New website:
> >http://www.marinbikes.com/2008/us/bikes/bikes_collection.php
>
> > Slower and far more confusing.
>
> > It seems to be an industry trend. Thank goodness our old friends at
> > Jamis and Breezer are sticking with html:
>
> >http://www.breezerbikes.com/bikes.cfm
> >http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/index.html
>
> > I'm venturing that the Flash based websites are said to be stiffer and
> > more vertically compliant?
>
> Website designers who forget the Keep It Simple Stupid principle should
> be taken out behind the woodshed.

Another reason to appreciate 'ole Sheldon. His website is so 90s in
the best sense of the phrase.

Flash can be fantastic--the youtube revolution proved this, but even
youtube relies on solid html for navigation, as does flickr, gmail,
and other modern sites.

 

[Tom Sherman]

landotter ??? wrote:
> On Dec 27, 8:39 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>> landotter who? wrote:
>>> ...
>>> I'm venturing that the Flash based websites are said to be stiffer and
>>> more vertically compliant?
>>
>> Website designers who forget the Keep It Simple Stupid principle should
>> be taken out behind the woodshed.
>
> Another reason to appreciate 'ole Sheldon. His website is so 90s in
> the best sense of the phrase.

Brown-nosing Sheldon?

(For the record, I have said the same about Sheldon's website in the past.)

> Flash can be fantastic--the youtube revolution proved this, but even
> youtube relies on solid html for navigation, as does flickr, gmail,
> and other modern sites.

Flash is good for animated cartoons and games, but should NOT be part of
basic website design.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
POST FREE OR DIE!

 

[Paul M. Hobson]

Tom Sherman wrote:
> landotter ??? wrote:
>> On Dec 27, 8:39 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>> landotter who? wrote:
>>>> ...
>>>> I'm venturing that the Flash based websites are said to be stiffer and
>>>> more vertically compliant?
> >>
>>> Website designers who forget the Keep It Simple Stupid principle should
>>> be taken out behind the woodshed.
>>
>> Another reason to appreciate 'ole Sheldon. His website is so 90s in
>> the best sense of the phrase.
>
> Brown-nosing Sheldon?
>
> (For the record, I have said the same about Sheldon's website in the past.)
>
>> Flash can be fantastic--the youtube revolution proved this, but even
>> youtube relies on solid html for navigation, as does flickr, gmail,
>> and other modern sites.
>
> Flash is good for animated cartoons and games, but should NOT be part of
> basic website design.
>

It;s like cotton candy. Seems like a good idea, but after one bite,
you're sick of it.

\\paul

 

[[email protected]]

On Dec 27, 6:00 pm, landotter <[email protected]> wrote:
> Old website:http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycles_2006/html/bikes/m_bikes.html
>
> It was about as to the point and quick to navigate as ya can get.
>
> New website:http://www.marinbikes.com/2008/us/bikes/bikes_collection.php
>
> Slower and far more confusing.
>
> It seems to be an industry trend.

landotter,
Isn't it kind of like the phone tree when you call your insurance
company or your health plan or your state government? It's designed
to give you the illusion of 'choices', but the reality is that they're
taking you deeper and deeper down a single lane, one-way rat-hole.
When you finally realize that this is NOT where you thought you were
going, it's too late to simply sidestep to a different path...you have
to go back to the hub before you can go a different way.
To me, it's the same problem, one phone, one pc screen, at least with
a book or magazine (actual) you can flip here, flip there, keep one
place with one finger while referring to another location. With a web
site it might help if the rat hole you're going down would open a set
of windows so that you could just go 'oh hell', close, close, close,
close, and you'd be back to your starting window. But maybe that's
the same as going 'back, back, back'....you can find newsgroups where
guys call each other names for thinking that those are good or bad
ideas, and they're as vehement about it as the arguments here about
helmets or doping.
It seems to me that if A invents a technology, B is going to learn it,
and C is going to try to sell those services to D by promising
millions of site hits and Sales Dollars. Economic churning, for
what? It's like the Britney Spears school of Business Development.
New, new, new.....value? What's that?

Rant concluded.
ABS

 

[Zoot Katz]

On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:01:23 -0800 (PST), [email protected]
wrote, in part:

>With a web
>site it might help if the rat hole you're going down would open a set
>of windows so that you could just go 'oh hell', close, close, close,
>close, and you'd be back to your starting window


I've used the Opera browser since ever and gotten accustomed to
holding down the shift key when clicking a link so it opens in a new
tabbed window. I don't know that other browsers don't do that.
--
zk

 

[Sheldon Brown]

Quoth landotter:

> Another reason to appreciate 'oleSheldon. His website is so 90s in
> the best sense of the phrase.
>
> Flash can be fantastic--the youtube revolution proved this, but even
> youtube relies on solid html for navigation, as does flickr, gmail,
> and other modern sites.

The check is in the mail...

Sheldon "View My Site In The Font YOU Prefer" Brown
+-----------------------------------------------------+
| If you want fancy, complicated moving graphics, |
| get a television set! |
| Beer and car advertisements on TV are way |
| beyond anything on the web, and load instantly. |
+-----------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

 

[Darwin]

On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:00:41 -0800 (PST), landotter wrote:

> Old website:
> http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycles_2006/html/bikes/m_bikes.html
>
> It was about as to the point and quick to navigate as ya can get.
>
> New website:
> http://www.marinbikes.com/2008/us/bikes/bikes_collection.php
>
> Slower and far more confusing.
>
> It seems to be an industry trend. Thank goodness our old friends at
> Jamis and Breezer are sticking with html:
>
> http://www.breezerbikes.com/bikes.cfm
> http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/index.html
>
> I'm venturing that the Flash based websites are said to be stiffer and
> more vertically compliant?

I agree. Also, the new site is so damned dark!

 

[landotter]

On Dec 28, 9:35 pm, Darwin <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:00:41 -0800 (PST), landotter wrote:
> > Old website:
> >http://www.marinbikes.com/bicycles_2006/html/bikes/m_bikes.html
>
> > It was about as to the point and quick to navigate as ya can get.
>
> > New website:
> >http://www.marinbikes.com/2008/us/bikes/bikes_collection.php
>
> > Slower and far more confusing.
>
> > It seems to be an industry trend. Thank goodness our old friends at
> > Jamis and Breezer are sticking with html:
>
> >http://www.breezerbikes.com/bikes.cfm
> >http://www.jamisbikes.com/usa/thebikes/index.html
>
> > I'm venturing that the Flash based websites are said to be stiffer and
> > more vertically compliant?
>
> I agree. Also, the new site is so damned dark!

Ah, yes! That's what was so obvious and bothersome that I couldn't put
my finger on at first. LOL!

The old website was so darn navigable with the nice little thumbnail
links to the bikes. Gah, Marin has gone to the dark side. However,
I'll remember my San Anselmo Nexus bike with great affection. Best and
most nuke proof city bike ever. At least they still make the
delightful $500 Belvedere with color matched aluminum fenders!
(fenders that'll dent to hell in real use, but they look fabulous for
the first couple months)

 

[peter]

On Dec 27, 6:39 pm, Tom Sherman <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Website designers who forget the Keep It Simple Stupid principle should
> be taken out behind the woodshed.

Agreed. I think the problem is largely that the site designer's
customer is some marketing executive at the company and not the people
who will actually be visiting the site looking for information. The
marketing exec sees the fancy graphics and video displays and thinks
that'll make for an interesting website while the real customer
frequently just wants to look up some specific facts about the
product.

As a potential customer, by the time I enter a company's URL into my
browser I'm already interested in the product but usually want to get
a few more facts before making a decision. The fancy graphics/videos
just get in the way and slow things down.