[Hidden-tech] Restaurant websites built using Adobe Flash?

[Jim Biancolo]

I'd treat the question as a two-parter:  [1] why do restaurants favor Flash, and [2] why Flash?

For [1], I'd guess any business, not just restaurants, that thinks their website is primarily for advertising purposes rather than information conveyance purposes might lean towards Flash as the tool of choice for doing something glossy and brochure-like and smoothly interactive.

Whether this is a good choice is another matter.  I tend to think ALL websites are for information conveyance and should be programmed as such, but painful experience has taught me that I'm not like everybody.

As for [2], for a long time Flash was the go-to tool for a certain kind of interactivity.  You could achieve some similar effects with Javascript, but it was painful to get it completely consistent and seamless on a wide variety of platforms and browsers.  Now, with the rise of various JS libraries (jQuery, prototype.js, MooTools), JS is becoming a usable option for more things previously in Flash's domain.

That said, if you care deeply about pixel-perfect placement and your font choices (as I imagine many with the brochure mentality do), Flash still has the edge.  CSS and web fonts leave a lot to be desired, in terms of cross-platform/browser consistency.

I say all this never having programmed a Flash site, so please don't think I'm advocating that tool.  Personally, I think it's a good tool that's widely abused, but it certainly has its place.

Jim

At 1/22/2009 8:30 AM, Jeff Hobbs wrote:
>    ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the member's area.
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> I was wondering if any local web designers wanted to weigh in on this one:
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> Why does it seem like every restaurant website is built using Adobe Flash?
> 
> http://blog.masslive.com/linkfarm/2009/01/why_is_every_restaurant_websit.html
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> ~Jeff
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