Posted November 9th, 2007, in: Technology| Web 2.0

I remember when I first started learning a little bit about HTML. It was exciting to be able to make intense color-combinations, use strange and unique fonts, background images Etc. The first webpages I made, in retrospect, were absolutely horrific! Mostly, because my design outcomes were more about my excitement than they were about beauty or usefulness.

“Pimped” Myspace Profiles are great examples of how beginning designers have a tendency to be overzealous. They throw every tool at their disposal at the project. It’s a bit like over-seasoning when cooking. Just because you have rosemary, doesn’t mean you should use it.

And when a site is built primarily using Flash, the result is usually a scary meal. It’s like Nacho Cheese as a main course.

Brian Chirls recently put together a list of reasons not to use Flash as your main dish.

Probably the reason this still goes on so often, is that people feel like they’re getting bang for their buck if the site they’re paying to have built dances, sings and does tricks.

There’s a time and a place for nacho cheese (although I don’t know where or when that is).