Re: Usability of Flash tours

Dror--

I feel the same way you do about Flash and video, that it conveys  
some kinds of information too slowly.  But there are some people who  
really like to get information that way.  The popularity of YouTube  
shows that people like to watch their computer screens and don't mind  
the audio.  So we probably shouldn't rely on our own personal  
preferences here.

I think this was two years ago already when a vendor who provided  
tools for sites that gave out insurance policy information or  
something like that gave a presentation and said that when they gave  
users a choice of bulleted fast facts, a PDF brochure, and a video,  
the video had recently drawn even in page views with the bullet list  
(and these both were much more popular than PDF).  This says to me  
that there are people who want the information as fast as possible,  
and some people who are willing to take or perhaps even need a few  
minutes to understand what they think of as complex information.  It  
also says you can't get rid of the bullet points.

Is there any way you can get a quick assessment of what works for  
your audience?  I don't think there's much question that Flash and  
video is very effective for some people.  The question is whether  
there enough of those people in your audience to make it worth  
developing Flash or video.

One way to assess interest would be to put up a quick-and-dirty Flash/ 
video, just to see how many hits you get.  If nobody clicks on the  
link to it, then you can assume there's no interest.  If they do  
click on it, then you can consider developing the full version.

                 --Brian

On Mar 5, 2008, at 12:00 PM, Dror Matalon wrote:

> Hi Folks,
>
> I'm looking for usability information on using Flash movies for  
> product
> marketing to demonstrate features and benefits of a product (as  
> opposed
> to how to use a product).
>
> Some of the issues I see.
> * The linearity of a flash movies means that users have to watch
> segments their not interested in. This can somewhat be mitigated  
> with a
> sidebar with a TOC.
> * The lack of speed control. I personally find most movies to be quite
> slow as far as the pace.
> * Including voice in a movie to describe the product might not fit the
> user's style or the environment they're in.
> * Lack of navigational measurement compared to regular HTML pages.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dror
>
>
> -- 
> Dror Matalon
> Zapatec Inc
> 1700 MLK Way
> Berkeley, CA 94709
> http://www.zapatec.com
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