FLASH SITES

If you don't consider yourself "technically savvy" then you probably don't know the difference between a standard HTML website and a Flash website. When you surf the net, however, you will see the difference. Flash sites are sound and motion rich sites, more animated and interactive. Often they are used to create something akin to a video presentation, which you can see in the CD-ROM MAILERS and DIGITAL TRAINING sections of this site. There are pro's and con's to each method of building a website, as well as ways of combining the two technologies. I have extensive programming experience in both, and if you're not sure what is best for your project, in the very least I can provide you with a few good answers and insights.

SAMPLE #1: VANACORE SHAREHOLDER SERVICES

Client Profile: Vanacore Shareholder Services is a company which helps to reunite people with "lost property."

Project Challenge: Vanacore wanted a stylish, interactive interface. Not every client wants the bells and whistles. Vanacore did. They also wanted the text to be easy to change.

Project Solution: The globe spins, the images fade in or out depending on where you click, and the sound and sound effects can be turned on or off depending upon how much you like the music. On the technical side, the site makes use of an XML file so the average html user can easily change the text information throughout the site without having to understand Flash technology.

SAMPLE #2: BARAKA-BREWER

Client Profile: Kris Brewer and Kelly Baraka are a highly creative, vivacious team of artists that work together to create sculptural masterpieces.

Client Quote: "The site keeps looking better and better! Thanks for all your hard work, Dune. Really appreciate it..."
-- Kris Brewer

Project Challenge: Kris Brewer and Kelly Baraka wanted a website gallery to assist the promotion, interest, and sales of their work. It needed to allow for the easy addition of new images and quick updates. Because of the rich graphical content, it was important to keep the loading time to a minimum, while still maintaining high-quality images.

Project Solution: Making use of design layouts that accented their own artistic style, I built the site to be run off of a database which holds a listing of artwork descriptions and associated images. This made it easy to update or expand. Furthermore, the scrolling image gallery loads dynamically to significantly reduce load and viewing time for those users on a low bandwidth connection.

SAMPLE #3: WORDGIRL

Project Challenge: Wordgirl needed a website that could act as both an informative brochure about her services, as well showcase a solid portfolio of her work. It needed to be easily expandable and simple for users to navigate. And, of course, it needed to match her current branding style and image.

Project Solution: The resulting site met Sara's needs easily and affordably. The superhero image comes across with a bold use of her logo and the expansive "sun-burst" styled background scheme, without detracting from the content. The navigation system is dynamically generated, allowing for easy expansion of her portfolio. It is Flash-based, rather than HTML-based. The result of properly using this Flash technology means the main site and all of her resulting portfolio pages load faster, which is particularly beneficial to users on slow dial-up connections.