In support of an article I wrote for my e-zine today, “The Problem with Flash” I have compiled a few sites that show excellent graphical design without being constructed entirely in Flash.

Examples of What Can Be Done Without Flash:

http://www.insuranceofcharleston.com/
Shows what can be done graphically with a traditionally conservative business industry.

http://www.keithkent.ie/
Click the links. You probably won’t believe this is done without Flash, but it is. Those effects are created using JavaScript and JQuery.

http://www.ndesign-studio.com/
http://www.webdesignerwall.com/
Gorgeous use of background images by talented illustrator and designer, Nick La.
(in case you can’t get enough - a whole gallery of these full-bleed background designs: http://www.webdesignerwall.com/trends/80-large-background-websites/

http://www.csszengarden.com/
A classic of amazing CSS design. (Click through all the designs in the right-hand menu.)

http://www.dantestyle.se/
Another portfolio that proves Flash isn’t necessary for sexy effects.

http://www.floggedmagazine.com/
Shows the limitless design options of HTML.

Galleries of Great Non-Flash website design:

http://www.cssreboot.com/

http://designshack.co.uk/gallery/layout/other/

http://www.cssimport.com/

http://www.cssbeauty.com/gallery/

An Example of a Hybrid Site

Lest you think I detest Flash in all its incarnations, a sensible example of using Flash elements in an otherwise standard website.

http://www.dev.bumpnetworks.com/
Only the top graphic of the logo and lizard is Flash on this site.

I love Content Management Systems and now always use them for my clients’ websites – no matter how “small” their site is. 

If you are thinking about moving to a CMS for your website, I say GO FOR IT! The flexibility it offers is totally worth it. There are a lot of options, both free (usually open source) and paid. If you want to research different ones, check out this site: http://cmsmatrix.org (ugly, but useful – though keep in mind that not all the listings are updated frequently, so you should check the CMS’s website for the latest info.)

The CMS I personally use for all my client’s websites is called umbraco (http://www.umbraco.org) My experience is with .Net (Microsoft) programming languages, which is why having an ASP.Net CMS is important for me, as a developer. This would be less an issue from a content producer’s/site owner’s view point.

The things I like the best about umbraco:

• free and open-source
• allows for ANY visual design (including those using JavaScript and Flash)
• extremely flexible and easy to develop for
• it’s very simple to build a site using search engine optimization best practices
• adding Google Analytics and other services is super easy
• can integrate any other .Net system in one way or another (most useful for more advanced applications)
• friendly and responsive community and core developer team
• attractive and “modern” looking backend (what the content producer and developer sees and works with)
• basically ANYTHING can be done with an umbraco site with some more advanced programming

The things that would be important to a content producer are somewhat different. Take a look here: http://umbraco.org/tour and click the big life vest (“For end users”) for some examples.

The only thing I would caution about umbraco, is that due to its flexible and customizable nature, setting up a website in it is somewhat more complex than some other “just install it” systems (and if you are not that technically inclined or want an exact conversion of a current website to umbraco, some professional developer assistance is required), but once your site is set up, it’s very easy for the content producers to use.

If you have a current website and plan to keep the same visual design and content layout, you will need to select your CMS carefully, since some of them have limited design options (frequently using a concept of “modules”, which is essentially little boxes of content), or insisting on 2 or 3 column design, or forcing you to use a certain “template” design which has limited customization options. So keep that in mind.

This is one of the big things I like about umbraco, since it doesn’t limit your design in any way and can produce web standards compliant code. (Which helps your site look similar in different browsers, and allows for better SEO indexing, etc.)

If you’d like to get an idea of the variety of sites that can be designed using umbraco, you can see sites I’ve done in it:

Generous Orthodoxy – a content-rich site I implemented for a minister

The Heart and Soul Fund – a non-profit website

Booker T Washington Learning Center – another non-profit organization website

Floyd Innovations - my consulting website

Whole Web Impact – my online marketing for independent professionals website

And also there is an international portfolio of umbraco sites by different designers.

Yesterday's On the Media program had a fascinating segment about the Associated Press cracking down on bloggers who post excerpts and link to their content. Here is a summary of the story. You can read the transcript or listen to the mp3:

Unfair Use?

July 18, 2008

When the Associated Press busted a little-known website for posting excerpts from AP stories, the blogosphere responded with indignation. After all, appropriating content with a link back to its source is common practice. Media scholar Siva Vaidhyanathan looks at the ongoing battle between blogs and the mainstream media.

Source: On The Media: Transcript of "Unfair Use?" (July 18, 2008)

So what gives? And should YOU be worried about blogging for your business? First of all, I don't think you should be giving up blogging just yet. You just need to be conscious of the best ways to go about it.

In regards to the Associated Press, perhaps your best bet is to link to the article in question in a smaller, local paper's website. These local newspapers are AP's customers and will appreciate the traffic your post will bring them.

The most important thing is to follow the basic blogging best practices as elucidated in the OTM story by their guest Siva Vaidhyanathan, the author of Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity, and a professor of media studies and law at the University of Virginia:

You pick up enough text to get to the gist of the story to which you’re referring. You pick up the controversial part of a statement that you want to criticize. You make sure to embed it within a larger conversation of commentary. And all of that is classic fair use.

So most bloggers in most situations are actually, whether they know it or not, behaving according to the core principles of fair use. And that’s because fair use really does ultimately depend on common sense industry standards.

So, some quick tips:

1. Don't copy & paste and entire story - Not only is this considered copyright infringement, but it makes for a really dumb blog post. You are supposed to be adding something to the conversation, or just pointing out something to your readers. There is no benefit to reposting content available elsewhere.
2. Always include the relevant links back to source articles - so you needn't worry about #1, above.
3. Include appropriate credits when applicable - the source, author, etc, can all give context to your citation.
4. Have something meaningful to say that relates the content to yourself or your business - your readers are reading YOU for a reason. They will get more value if you can make it relevant to them.

So, keep blogging!

 I just read this little article about some new studies about choice (emphasis is mine):

New research shows that such daily decisions eat up limited mental resources, ultimately rendering our self-control into mush. Which means making too many decisions might be why many people can't stick to a diet, finish a big project or even complete simple daily tasks.

"It's a strange paradox because human beings are drawn to choice," said study co-author Kathleen Vohs, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "We love having more choices, but at the same time the human psyche is easily overcome by them."

So, how does this relate to your business website? If you don't yet have a business website, or if you are dissatisfied with your current site, quite possibly the reason you haven't made any progress on this important project yet has to do with the number of choices you face: 

• HOW to get your site up (DIY, Sitebuilder software, professional developer...)
• WHAT your site should look like and contain
• HOW it should be organized
• HOW to promote it effectivly

Each of these choices requires huge amounts of mental energy, research, comparison of this option vs. that option. These are not simple choices and frequently include a feeling of permanance - once you make a decision, it is expensive and difficult to change it - if possible at all.

No wonder you haven't tackled this yet!

If inertia is gripping your business website project and keeping it from getting off the ground, I hope you will consider contacting me. I want to help you understand the various options in simple terms, without any research on your part, and guide you through a step-by-step process that will take your big website project and reduce it to very do-able easy actions. 

The article's conclusion:

Choice strategies

Vohs said deferring decisions you don't really care about to someone or something else is a good idea to reserve brain power to stick to your guns on things you do care about.

"If you're on a diet, follow a dietary plan to limit your choices. If you don't care what you do with your significant other this weekend, politely defer that decision to them," Vohs said. "Putting the burden on someone else seems might seem mean, but if a goal is really important to you, it's a fantastic idea."

Now, doesn't that sound like a good idea?

Source: Daily Decisions Make Mush of Your Mind | LiveScience