h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

why not use flash for the homepage to make it more interactive. Not only will it be more interactive and more modern looking, it can also be better organized.

Flash isn't the most accessible program in the world.

It's not suitable for those who access the site using text based browsers such as lynx, or on systems that either don't have Flash (eg Amiga, some flavours of Unix, mobile phones) or aren't fast enough to cope with it (PDAs, low end PCs and Macs).

It's not suitable for those who are partially sighted or blind, and rely on screen reader software to "talk" the page on screen. Not sure if you've tried using a screen reader but even the best have a hard time with sites composed of Flash applets.

The only benefit of Flash is eyecandy.


A better idea would be if you really want a Flash version is wait until the Beeb fully open up their RSS feeds, whichaccording to BBC News that'll be sometime in May. That way you'll be able to pull any BBC webpage (and no doubt h2g2 content too) into any RSS reader. Even one wrapped around a Flash based front end if you so desire

i was merely suggesting as a second version, a more interactive look at the edited guide. Just a suggestion, i would love to do it myself, with the proper go ahead.

It's something we're really interested in doing though...

Drop us a line at the [email protected] address and we can discuss this more....

sent u an email, hope we can work sometin out.

Oh no, please no flash.

It wouldn't actually be the first time. A900938

Flash animations can make a nice augmentation, but I'd hope any Flash placed on the front page would be small enough to download pretty quickly (given that I'm using a 56k connection).

I don't like flash at all - I never go to sites unless they've got nice flat content like h2g2. Having to go through all that before you can get to the content is really off-putting, so I hate it on the front page of anything!

There are positive uses...

F1984543?thread=623959

...but I agree that it's very easily overused. I think that has more to do with a designer's taste, or lack thereof, and sense of functionality than with Flash in itself, though.

uhhh, Jimster, you sure thats a valid email i got a message back sayin its not.
if you want, you can laways email me at [email protected]

Try [email protected].

Oops - thanks Mina!

We're not actually in the ofice again until tomorrow, so we won't be able to reply until then anyway.

And don't worry, Mina, we're not thinking of using Flash intros. I'm thinking of only limited use, like the Doctor Who site's main banner, which is subtle and inobtrusive [http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/episodes/index.shtml].

Does anyone else have a problem imagining Jimster doing _anything_ in a manner that could be described as 'subtle and inobtrusive'

That sounds great Jimster! I hate those websites where you have to sit through literally seconds of loading to watch some silly movie - especially when you visit a site regularly. Those seconds can seem like forever.