Skipping the Intro

Though the web was often used to sell products through text, business wanted more than this. If a business wanted to present a presentation to their customer, it still had to be through face-to-face contact or through video. However, most video formats were far too large to be streamed over the internet (Austerberry). Flash's compact file size resolved this issue.

Websites would often welcome users to their site with an introductory video. But, the introduction video wasn't usually necessary to inform users about the site's product or service. Good websites would let users skip this introduction and move onto actual content. Flash was a tool to make a website stand out; it was not a tool used to inform viewers. That would soon change.

In August 1999, a Flash update was released that included the programming language ActionScript. This update also provided "support for data collection that could be passed on to databases or other server software-capabilities that lent themselves to e-commerce applications" (Ankerson 268). Flash was no longer just an animation tool; Flash could do anything. Designers were quick to take advantage of these new features to make complex web sites:

Macromedia's Flash vector graphics are a stepping-stone on the evolution from hypertext to rich media. The web designers and developers used a great deal of creativity and innovative scripting to make some very dynamic, interactive web sites using Flash.... [T]hese sites now can include true streaming video and audio embedded in the animation. So by combining the production methods of the multimedia disk with the skills of the web developer, a whole new way to communicate ideas has been created (Austerberry).

Wars of Incompatibility

During the first browser wars, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator were in fierce competition with each other to win the majority of users. One weapon they used against each other were special features. By offering features such as frames, colored backgrounds and extra text formatting, browser creators hoped that the majority of users would prefer their product (Windrum 97). However, this was extremely hard on developers.

In order to have special features, browsers were not using the same code as one another to display webpages. This was very hard on web developers who could not choose to "write versions for both browser platforms, this was an expensive option. More likely, they would choose to optimize their content for one or the other browser platforms" (Windrum 97). Since the code used to build websites wasn't similar between browsers, it became necessary to find another way to develop websites. In order to make their websites usable to more people, many web developers turned to Flash:

By producing websites entirely in Flash, designers could solve the technical problem of 'cross browser compatibility' by creating a single website that displayed uniformly across multiple browser versions. Furthermore, the vector files Flash created made full-screen, high-resolution motion graphics possible for a fraction of the file size as a bitmapped images - which meant the technology could be used to efficiently deliver a rich media experience to modem users.... Unlike HTML, Flash offered total control over typography and screen space. (Ankerson 263)

Flash seemed to be a benefit for both users and companies. Since Flash was available to so many people, users could experience rich-media websites, companies could have an impressive display for their services, and designers had the ability to make whatever they wanted.

The Web as a Canvas

Designers saw the web as a new way to explore how to display information, and had "genuine excitement for the possibilities invoked by these new ways of visually representing and interacting with screen space" (Ankerson 271). These new possibilities were used in many website designs. The standard browser buttons could be eliminated, immersing the user in a cinematic experience (Ankerson 310). Buttons, scrollbars and navigation could be shaped however the designer desired. Designers embraced this return to the creative core Flash provided, but the internet is not a limitless creative playground (Ankerson 277).

All this freedom provides designers with a tremendous variety of options when designing digital experiences. It also gives developers the power to abandon or abuse standards that have been established over decades of GUI computing. Take the scrollbar for example: The current concept of a scrollbar has evolved over years and years of use by millions of people around the world, and as a result we have an efficient, easy to use mechanism for scanning large amounts of content, that is immediately understood and approachable by most everyone in the world. Yet many designers create scrollbars that contradict these standards, that are difficult to use, and whose design may completely obscure its function. Given the tremendous amount of information people must sort through on a daily basis, it is important to minimize viewer friction in the interfaces to that information. (Blank et al., "R Blank")

Design freedom had taken over the web at the loss of usability. But usability was about to make a comeback.