We still have many clients who refuse flash, and the most compelling reason was the lack of search visibility. The boffins at google have fixed that with some form a SWF decoder. Worth a read for developers and a reassessment of the reasons not to have flash…
Q: Which Flash files can Google better index now?
We’ve improved our ability to index textual content in SWF files of all kinds. This includes Flash “gadgets” such as buttons or menus, self-contained Flash websites, and everything in between.
One key limitation is that the robot does not execute javascript, so you might have to carefully select what flavour of flash detection you use to ensure the flash files are visible.
You can now add thebrandunion.com to your iPhone or iPod Touch homepage should you desire. You should get a nice shiny webclip icon and not just a screengrab of the home page.
If you are of the typographic nature, you might have noticed the google favicon went lower case sometime in June. Here’s the backstory from the Google blog about the revamp . Google badly need some form of graphic device or framework to unite its ballooning set of services. Interesting that they start with the favicon, something most branding companies would do last.
” You may have noticed that Google has a new favicon, the small icon you see in your browser next to the URL or in your bookmarks list. Some people have wondered why we changed our favicon — after all, we hadn’t in 8.5 years(!)”
As part of the daily ‘what’s going on out there’ scan, I checked the top two stories on Digg. I’m not going to describe each of them but just provide the links.
1. http://tinyurl.com/65fgzs
2. http://tinyurl.com/462qc6
The unbridled dissemination of information. Both are highly provocative. Both provide visceral and intellectual responses. But in totally different ways.
The webby awards were announced recently, and with almost 70 categories there are plenty of interesting sites that both won awards and were shortlisted. To save you scrolling through a list of about 500 websites, I’d thought I’d post a selection of my favourites on here.
The first is the ‘People’s Voice’ winner in the Associations category – America’s Favourite Architecture. Beautifully designed, and with some stunning high-resolution photography, the site lists America’s favourite 150 pieces of arhitecture. You can sort by name, architect, or ranking – essentially a league table of people’s favourites. By choosing your favourite buildings, you can influence the overall standings. (In case you were wondering, the Empire State building is currently #1).
There seems to be a whole series of these including lyrical advice on issues such as successful online marketing and pay per click campaigns. The ‘Poetic Prophet’ has also invented a dance called The Page Rank.
