In this article Veerle discusses that Flash is not a suitable replacement for valid semantic markup and efficient use of CSS — and I wholeheartedly agree.

If I’m working on a project where Flash is involved I try to think in terms of user experience and usability first. I will question the purpose: do we need Flash to be able to do this or that? If we have a choice and we choose to use Flash will it enrich the user experience? Will it improve usability?

This is a perfectly valid assessment, but I feel it needs some clarification.

Flash can play several parts. It can:

• Detract from usability
• Add to usability
• Offer no change either way

If the second point is accurate then Flash is a great choice!  By doing something in Flash that could not be done with markup, CSS, or JavaScript and it increases the usability at the same time we see a clear case of a win-win situation.

However, if the third point is also accurate then the choice to use Flash becomes purely aesthetic in fashion and ultimately up to the designer.  If it does not add or detract from the end-user’s ability to access, use, or understand the content, then we again have a win-win.  Well, assuming it has a nice visual design.

So enriching the user experience should not be the ONLY thing to bear in mind when considering whether or not to use Flash, but whether or not it reduces usability.

And in case it is not clear:

Usability = Accessibility + Functionality + Form (where Form = Aesthetics + Visually Appealing Content/Design).

If a site, page, application, or rich media experience is not accessible and functional it is simply not usable.  In most cases it could be argued that if it is ugly it is just as unusable — and what do you know?  Those cases are right.

Everything in moderation!

If you are going to take down a link — LET ME KNOW!

Yesterday I visited http://www.waldenu.edu/c/10909.htm to check if they had any online Information Technology courses.  I found http://www.waldenu.edu/c/Schools/Schools_13788.htm, which was supposed to lead to “B.S. in Computer Information Systems.”  Instead I was presented with a 404 page.

And of course today the link on the “10909″ page is now gone. If we view the source of that page we see the link is there — it is just commented out.

If you are smart enough to design applications that notify you of problems you should be just as smart in notifying your users.

Tell me that the link is temporarily unavailable.  Better yet, tell me when it is coming back online or where I can find the information in the meantime.

Walden University has lost out on a student simply because I am unwilling to check back every day to check for links that have magically disappeared.

NOTE:  As of May 20th, 2008 the Walden University llink finally reappeared.

In any application it is necessary (not optional) to keep all menus intact.  If an option is not applicable in a given scenario, then disable it.  Do NOT hide it.

If your application has grown to massive proportions as is the case with:

1. Blender
2. Maya
3. Photoshop
4. The GIMP
5. Dreamweaver

Just to name a few — then you need to consider an alternative such as the splash screen or the first page of the help manual, discussing the fact that menus and or their menu items may disappear but that it is simply a context issue.

This enables the user to realize they must not be in the right context.  ”Filters” and “Effects” are not working properly?  Then you probably do not have anything on the canvas selected or you have the wrong type of object selected.

Leaving it to the user to guess their dilemma and its solution is not appropriate.