MTV.com: All-Flash Done Right
In November, I wrote a Note over at 9rules about the new all-Flash MTV.com site and how much I loved it. To me it was a great example of a Flash site done right. During the web standards movement it was blasphemy to even consider any type of site done in Flash and my thoughts on this were:
People tend to think that because of the great web standards movement that every site is meant for the great CSS/XHTML movement. We all know that every site is different and that you have to apply the technology that the site needs. In this case, I don’t see a problem at all with an all-Flash site. MTV is an entertainment and interactive brand and this site gives its users the chances to do that.
Now you might go to the site and scoff at having to wait for it to load, but the wait time isn’t that bad on a broadband connection and once you are inside things run pretty smoothly. If you are addicted to MTV and music news and features the site doesn’t disappoint and gives you plenty of options to go through. For me the Flash fits the function of the site. MTV isn’t looking for search engines hits to their sites so the indexing is not an issue. They are simply looking to entertain.
If the Flash doesn’t do it for you then you can use the XHTML version by clicking the link in the lower-right corner. That version is also nicely done and was designed by Mr. Cederholm. I don’t think more and more sites should make the move towards Flash, but I do think a lot more sites can find better uses for it instead of ignoring it all together. If people are really moving away from TV to the web as all the reports say then the ones who haven’t are more than likely waiting for the web to be just as entertaining and useful to them as television.
Unlike sites of the late 90’s and early 21st century, Flash usage on MTV isn’t what makes the site. The design itself is spectacular (love the grid) and the Flash offers a great complement to the design. They weren’t using Flash just to use it, it serves a purpose.
When I think of new Web 2.0 sites springing about the only example of Flash usage I could think of involves video players and honestly couldn’t think of any other site that would benefit from Flash usage, but my thinking is small. Are there sites out there that could benefit from a bit of Flash usage and not just from an entertainment perspective?
The site isn’t perfect and a couple of things that could be improved:
- Loading times. I visited the site on a fast connection so I was able to get to the glory quickly and so on a slower connection I had the patience to wait. However, I’m not sure that will work with people who are trying to take a peek at the site initially from a slow connection. Maybe on the loading splash page offer a link to the xhtml site so users have the option to bypass the Flash.
- RSS feeds. I know the intended audience might not use them at all, but there is still no reason to not give the people the option to know when your site updates. Of course this is a problem for a Flash site since there are no permalinks. Anyone have a solution for this?
- Preferences. I prefer to view the site in video mode because I love to sit back and watch the music videos, but I don’t like having to wait for the site to load and then click the video version and wait for that to load. Give me my version during the first loading.
The ads are INSANE on mtv.com. Any click produces a non skipable ad. And even worse is the bottom right corner. It displayed an ad RIGHT before I wanted to click on something there. I’m glad I don’t belong to the MTV generation anymore. Have fun with it Scrivs!
By huphtur on December 15, 2006 3:54 pm
Erf, I meant bottom LEFT.
By huphtur on December 15, 2006 4:02 pm
Yeah I deal with the video version so I get 2 music videos then a 30 second ad then back to videos. Worth it to me in my opinion, but I can easily see how the ads can be jarring to the experience.
By Scrivs on December 15, 2006 4:13 pm
I’ve been enamored with Fantasy Interactive’s work ever since my designer turned me on to them a year-or-so ago. They have put together quality sites across the board and generally throw in a bunch of flash without ending up with an excessively lame 2Advanced product. Two thumbs up on the new MTV design, especially the HUGE search bar!
By Brad Dickason on December 15, 2006 4:17 pm
Fine, it’s a music site, but I don’t like it when websites blast audio at you without warning.
By Joe Grossberg on December 15, 2006 4:25 pm
I can’t recall any interactive site that didn’t do something without warning to be honest.
By Scrivs on December 15, 2006 4:37 pm
Scrivs: You actually can have permalinks in Flash, and I’m glad to see that MTV has already done this (A++ to their development team). For isntance check this out: http://www.mtv.com/#/music/best_of/2006/ It’s a “hack” of a permalink, but gets the job done. Same thing can be said for Ajax (though hardly of Ajax developers).
Personally, this is one the things that most impressed me about the design: they took the time to finish off details like this before going live (instead of afterword, like most dev shops)
By Kyle on December 15, 2006 6:05 pm
MTV’s newer look is horrendous. It reminds me of the days in the 90’s when everyone had 50 animated gifs on their pages. Too much animation and transitions, it’s almost like being staring into a strobe light, and then they crammed so much detail and content into such a small area it’s hard to even figure out where to begin.
One upside I will give them is the search emphasis which is great. Search is king these days, so props to them for getting that right.
Overall though, MTV.com gets an F for this rendition. No different from any other design I have seen them produce.
Sites like http://www.2advanced.com is a great flash done right site. So are many of the sites that they have produced for clients. They manage to put together the right amounts of eye candy and content to make the site look sweet, and still provide content in good ways.
By Kyle on December 15, 2006 6:41 pm
I like the site and checked it out when it first changed but had one gripe… i live in the uk and the first 2 vids i wanted to watch gave me a horrible cruel message “content not available outside the US” …. so i left and found it on youtube. Not a design cause i know but it still annoys me!
By zak on December 16, 2006 11:05 am
I’d have to agree with Kyle. The MTV site look to me like their just doing that was done in the 90s. However, they do deserve some kudos for having the video and XHTML versions.
I disagree with the assessment of 2advanced however. The sci-fi space fantasy is played out. These folks are talented flash developers for sure, so hopefully they’ll try something totally different in their next iteration.
I found the FWA’s site of the day for today (12/16) to be an absolutely incredible example of Flash done right — and appropriate to their message.
Check it out — whatnoise.org
By Mark on December 16, 2006 12:24 pm
I can’t wait for “Java applet site done right” and “jpeg site done right”.
By Rimantas on December 17, 2006 7:50 am
@kyle (warpspire): Does anyone know why the “#” is added for the URLs in the Flash but they’re not there in the non-Flash? Both are created from the same XHTML base.
By treevis on December 17, 2006 11:48 am
I was wondering the same thing, but am not versed enough in Flash to understand the significance of it.
By Scrivs on December 17, 2006 12:24 pm
Using a # (anchor tag) is a cheap way to deeplink flash and stop the page refreshing when you call a URL via the browser, not sure how they did it on this page as the code is a mess, but if you look at neave tv and the JS and html source (http://www.neave.tv/) you will see a really good example of the technique in action.
By RB on December 17, 2006 3:46 pm
RB, deeplinking in flash is done with a combo of SWFobject and SWFaddress. Its dead simple to use and works cross browser. Deeplinking shouldn’t be a fight in flash and now it isn’t.
By lincoln on December 19, 2006 12:08 am
I didn’t say it wasnt, I just said thats what they use the hash for and that neave.tv was a good example of it.
If Im going to be pedentic about it, it’s actually not done with swf object, swf object is embedding JS script, using that just makes it easier to implement flash vars, and that is how you communinicate external information into flash via the url, which is what deeplinking basically is!
By RB on December 19, 2006 10:19 am