[Sigia-l] Flash Ads At The New York Times

[David Heller]

Actually, their advertising woes has nothing to do w/ Flash from a user
experience perspective. It is the way they are creating "commercials"
that is most annoying. The fact that they chose flash to do this in
instead of say Real, Quicktime, etc. is just b/c out of all the other
plug-ins flash is the most ubiquitous and x-platform/browser.

What they have done is "charge" you for the use of their content. Its
totally fair, even though it makes the web a TV station again w/ page
turns, now the point of a break for our sponsors.

Your other question is, "do you ever design things that say screw-you to
the user?" (basically). The answer is of course I do. All the time.
1. I have to design things so they demo
2. I have to design things so that I push product placement over content
3. etc. etc.

There are always checks and balances to be made.

The WSJ, made their choice early on by charging for their content. The
NYTimes said we want to be free, but you have to pay this way.

-- dave

David Heller
Sr. User Interface Designer
Documentum: The Leader in Enterprise Content Management
925.600.5636
 
david.heller at documentum.com
http://www.documentum.com/
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--"If it isn't useful, it will never be usable."