For the second time today, I encountered a site that made visitors upgrade to the latest version of Flash (9.0) before they could see a new feature.
The first was Jacquie Lawson’s latest e-card and the second was TacoBell, which has a way cool interactive rap rhyme game to promote its low prices.
Given that 93% of computers already have Flash 9.0 installed, requiring the latest version of the software shouldn’t be a big deal. But, as Lawson said in an email, “it’s the remaining 7% that we’re worried about.”
“…there comes a time when even technological dinosaurs like us have to move on, and the latest version of Flash would enable Jacquie and the team to draw much smoother, more realistic and convincing animations, as well as making it quicker and easier to view the cards,” Lawson wrote, adding “Please be assured that to do so is perfectly safe and free of charge.”
For all the geeks online, there also are millions of senior citizens; technophobes; people who’ve never downloaded software themselves and who are afraid they’ll break their computer if they do.
Think about them next time you add a really cool feature to a website. Make sure the instructions are completely clear to non-geeks. After all, you don’t want to end up preaching only to the choir.
