So we have to make a portfolio...

There are still dozens of reasons why those Flash applications are bad though. I've still never seen it done well enough to believe it's any better than plain ol' HTML. Just because it can do a lot of stuff doesn't mean it's the best choice.

The only good uses of Flash I've seen lately are streaming mp3 players built in to web sites, and to replace heading text by using the sIFR method. Other than that I give it a big thumbs down.

Well, one of our projects was to make 2 gloves that you put on your hands and when you put your fingers together it gives you different sounds, then there was a movie that shows you which fingers to be pressed down at a certain time to get the right sound with the right tempo.
This would have been a bit hard to do without flash :P
Well I know what you mean, but it depends on the project.
Some stuff is just possible to do with flash and when the client want that we have to be able to do it.

Well yeah, silly stuff like that you'd obviously need Flash for. But you don't have that on your web site, and neither do most of the other completely Flash sites, which is why it sucks and is mis-used. Of course it should be used for multimedia things like that, but for actual web sites, I think it is unnecessary and usually makes for an unusable and frustrating experience.

Yup I know how you feel, felt the same way a half year ago :P

ok, so elaborate (not trying to get into flaming, i think this could be a good discussion)

dek makes some good points, the comments you've made so far (php/database, etc.) are all things flash can do but they also be done (most would argue more easily) in html. so what can flash do that makes it so it SHOULD be used in some situations?

chris

Some of the arguments could be that it does live updating, it's more interactive, etc. But you can do live updating with HTML as well, just check out http://www.tadalist.com/ and http://panic.com/goods/

And the interactive thing could be nice if used in moderation and done by someone that has the user in mind, but it can also be confusing. Especially the way Flash developers like to add moving **** all over the screen for no reason other than to say "OMG LOOK AT THIS STUFF FLYING AROUND. IT'S ANIMATED!". Which isn't going to make for a nice e-commerce experience.

Plus all the usual reasons why Flash sucks which have been listed many times before.

yeah but Dek you need to remember Bjorn is in school - and this is actually school assigned stuff - I guess they have to use flash to learn it...

and it's good looking too

Deker I really understand you but I like this discussion too :D
Well alot of the project we get from clients here at work, is just because we know flash.
Like projects for Ericsson, we get those experiment projects because they want someting different and and more interactive as you said.
And if we wouldn't know flash we wouldn't have clients as Ericsson for example.

I changed the site a bit... made some preloaders, made the gallery more static, that was a really good point, I thought it was nice when it moved, but I noticed when I was using my laptop without my mouse and just the touchpad it was a bit annoying.
And if the background is annoying you, there is now a brown and a gray background to have it more simple...

And if we talk about flash and non flash.
Well there are people who like flash and people who like XHTML sites.
Right now we are making XHTML sites, and I kind of hate it, at least if it's has to be with the W3 standards so that disable people can see it, you can't really make a nice looking site like that, yes everyone can see it.
Okey you probably can make one, but I have never seen a nice strict XHTML site with W3 standards...

Thanks for the comments again...

www.csszengarden.com

www.cssvault.com

www.stylegala.com

I've seen a lot of really really ugly Flash sites. The medium has nothing to do with the final appearance of the site. Flash sites can be just as ugly, and are in most cases. With the added bonus of all the usability problems.

But I understand why you're learning Flash, and why it's required for some projects. It's just that it's used for a lot of things that it doesn't need to be.

Yup seen those, and I can't really say I like them...
but I found this http://www.subtraction.com/ which has a nice header, but I can't say I like the rest :P
If you compair that to this -> http://www.iamstatic.com/ ...
Or a simple site like this -> http://www.firstbornmultimedia.com ... mm I like flash :P
hihi...