Can someone please enlighten me? I'm in the dark and I don't like it.

Why do people continue to land contracts designing websites that are rendered useless by people who don't have Flash installed?

Don't get me wrong, flash has its place: cross-platform videos, presentations, etc.

Where it doesn't belong is on the index page of a site, and taking up a large part of it at that.

What prompted this rant was the first site I linked to, Technotrade. Technotrade is a local computer store. I buy most of my stuff there because their prices are relatively decent, and they've got a pretty large warehouse, so I can almost always get what I need, and walk.

Their website, however, makes me want to beat people.

This disgraceful display of complete and utter ineptitude is disturbing.

First, the site is completely useless if you don't have Flash installed. Second, even if you do have Flash installed, it refuses to work unless you have Flash 8 installed. That excludes every Linux user on the planet, because as of now, there is no version 8 Flash player for Linux. Third, the only reason for the Flash, nearest I can tell, is for the gratuitous animations the site has -- which are all absolutely fucking hideous.

Someone could have completely designed that site using PHP or Perl, or even fucking ASP, made it cross-browser, cross-operating system compatible, cleaner, lighter, and faster. But no, they had to hire some fucking imbecile to write that bloated piece of shit.

It's 2006. When will people learn? Nevermind, maybe I'll learn Flash, and start making all of my sites work in Flash.

That'll happen the same day I say Fiddy Cent has talent, or the United States was right to invade Iraq.