Cool uses of Flash video.. a trip down memory lane

I first discovered Flash video for a project at my former employer, and blogged about it. Nowadays whether its Youtube, video blogs, Presidential Campaign or just a regular website it seems like you can't visit a site without seeing embedded web video. 99% of the time it's done using Flash Video - FLV format.

Overtime i've collected some links to a list of cool uses of Flash video. Below are some highlights and descriptions of stuff that’s been created with Flash video especially using the chroma key/green screen technique.

Some of these are a little dated, but I still like them all the same:

• Imagine this kind of demo as another helpful layer of navigation for client websites:
• Investment firm Janus has some great home page Flash video and a nice multi-video interface in their page headers
• Ektron’s CMS demo, a little cheesy but the zooming is cool
• Geico Caveman - I love these commericals, imagine this concept for virtual tour:
• Nice video console
• I don't know if you watch MythBusters, but Discovery Channel has a nice video gallery done with Flash
• This is an awesome Flash video example for a popular European deodorant brand, a little raunchy:
• I like how they customized the interface and link to different movies from within it
• Clean interface
• Elmbrook Church
• World Trade Center - Build the Memorial
• Original Macromedia Studio 8 demo (now Adobe overview of Flash video):

Taxonomy Strategy Part 1

It seems that when most websites are built these days at least some consideration is given to traffic building by using any number of strategy’s: SEO, SEM and Online PR / Seeding. However that is all about getting users to your website.

So what consideration is being given to keep users their once they arrive? It would appear that if Web 2.0 is all about creating a more interactive user experience. Web 3.0 is all about providing users the right information they want on-demand. The answer? A Taxonomy strategy.

So what is Taxonomy? Simply put taxonomy is categorization of content that doesn't suffer the traditional limitations of content tagging such as metadata. It allows you to create simply or complex content relationships that grow with your website as content is added and categorized with multiple categories.

Why is this useful? With the amount of data being added to a modern dynamic website via a Content Management System, E-commerce engine, Blog or any number of tools we are seeing traditional website navigation has hit the limits of its effectiveness. The simplest example I can offer is when you buy an item on Amazon.com you are told "Customer who bought this also bought this". Behind this kind of web application intelligence is taxonomy creating those content relationships.

It provides developers another way to interact with site content and provide more intuitive and intelligent navigation that allows refinement and drilldown to the nth degree if needed.

Creating a sound Taxonomy strategy is not an easy task. First you need to make sure you select software for your web application that includes this as a feature, most don't. To learn more about taxonomy check out the following link on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxonomy#Applications

More to come on taxonomy strategy at a later date! :)

Googles answer to directory assistance - voice local search

My wife used to call me all the time, as i'm in front of a computer most of the day I used to be her personal assistant and 411 operator, running searches on Google for a phone number or address depending on her request. You would be suprised how vague some of her details where! It seems finally relief is at hand.

Google have chalked up another first with the Google Voice Local Search. My wife and I have been using this service for more than 2 months now and i'm impressed. Simply dial 1-800-466-4411 (1-800-GOOG-411) and your asked by an automated voice "City and State", it verifies what you said then asks your business name or category, say that and you are presented with a list of results that match your description, it will then read you the address and either directly connect you via phone to the business or send you the results of your voice search via text SMS message to your cell phone.

Since giving my wife this number it has reduced 99.1% of her calls to me about running searches for businesses! So if you have a co-worker, significant other or even a mother that needs help tell them to give 1-800-GOOG-411 a try! I end this blog with a sigh of relief.

Loving Google Analytics

I just got notified of the upgrade to the new and improved version of Google Analytics. After logging in and checking it out I've got to say i'm impressed. The new version has some killer features, and a bold new interface that uses a line graph for most overviews in favor of the old 3D horizontal bar graphs.

Having worked with a number of analytics packages and vendors over the years including Deepmetrix, Urchin (before Google bought them), Webtrends and Omniture i'm amazed at features in Google Analytics. Granted everything ties back to their ad network but name another analytic provider that current offers so much for free?

I recently attending a Webex demo with an Omniture sales rep and has show their stat's system. They definately have an amazing interface, and some great feature including the ability to customize your stats to the nth degree. However their package is not cheap.

At my former employer I was looking at upgrading from our hosted web analytics package Urchin 5.7 (after Google bought them). I really liked Deepmetrix from my experience with version 6 of their Livestats product. It was funny to see then (in May 2006) that Microsoft acquired them. Now it seems we are only months away from seeing the release of "Code Name Gatineau" a similar offering in the free analytics space from Microsoft. It's a little bit of history repeating!

Web 2.0 design

I read an article this week on BBC's site titled "Web 2.0 'neglecting good design'". The article describes web usability guru Jakob Nielsen assessment of a sloppy approach by a lot of design firms to include dynamic web 2.0 functionality without a lot of thought, the term "glossy but useless". I have tend to agree with some of his comments, but I think it all depends on the user.

As a more savvy web user I'm often frustrated by flat boring sites that don't offer a fluid interface and access to the information I want on demand. With advancements that have been made with AJAX, DHTML, Flash and mashups of those technologies I think it offers users an array of great functionality if the Information Architecture has been thought out correctly.

It's true you can create a site and load it full of crazy features no one will use and seem some developers of company's do it just for notoriety.

However their is another element to Web 2.0 that the article doesn't address which is cleaner design. Thank god the days of sites oozing of tiled backgrounds, heavily bitmapped graphics and excessive use of animated gifs and flash are over. Google, 37Signals and others have really been innovators in this space providing us a new cleaner way to approach design in their applications. On that note, here are some great articles on Web 2.0 design I reviewed recently:

• Design style guide (great overview)
• Simple clean designs
• The Principles of Beautiful Web Design
• Keep it Simple Stupid (more high level)

To end this blog I will leave you with a cool video on I found on Youtube that shows the evolution of the Web from 1.0 to 2.0! :)

Creating a compeling user experience ... the 8 second rule

While talking to a co-worker recently he compared a websites homepage to a shop window. I had never looked at it this way before but when you think of it, he is right. If I walk by a shop and see the same display in the front window every time I walk by, as a consumer I am far less interested in going in and taking a look. The shops that change their window displays frequently and keep me interested and the ones that generally entice me inside to buy something.

It's amazing to me why so many companies’s with bricks and mortar establishments who care know how to sell product in the traditional world, don't apply the same tactics to their website online!

We've all visited websites where it doesn't matter if you return today or 30 days from now nothing changes. I'm not talking about old static websites either, I’m talking about websites that have clearly been redesigned recently and are clearly run on a CMS and have an e-commerce component.

Your website in your online living and breathing marketing tool, so use it like one!

The term "Content is King" has been banded around quite a lot, but it still holds true. Make sure their is plenty of good content on your website, but also make sure it's relevant and targeted to the user. Sure it takes time and money to develop website that enables you to keep content fresh and relevant. But with the ever increasing number of businesses going online today its a competitive market place out there.

If you have the ability to update your website frequently and have the skills to do so then do it! It doesn't matter how much money you've spent on SEO or SEM. Without a compelling user experience, and if you haven't found a way to engage a user after 8 seconds you've lost them you've lost them to the next listing on Google.

I guess the mentality is "it's not my job" could be your downfall. Hmmm a certain viral email image springs to mind (see left).

My point? Don't let your website fall prey to becoming boring and static. Keep the content fresh, relevant and sticky. Give users a reason to return!

Silverlight, Microsofts answer to Flash

I was on MSDN this morning and found out that Microsoft has official released their Flash clone and called it Silverlight. It looks like Microsoft are trying to directly compete with Flash with this release. Formally known as Sparkle and Codename WPF/E this release is Beta and looks a little more polished. I don't expect it to gain much traction initially with the loyalty of the community to Flash, remember SVG... which Adobe has just abandoned.

There are plug-ins for Mac and PC, and they've released an Alpha version of some development software on the Microsoft website. This will be an interesting space to watch. With the growth of the .NET community and Microsofts push in this space with significant investment in Visual Studio and Expression software which now integrate directly with Silverlight it definately looks like we are headed for a showdown between Adobe and Microsoft.