Simple Flash

When I surf the web, which is often, one of my biggest thrills when aimlessly moving from site to site is stumbling upon some sort of Flash animation. Flash is the Cliff Notes to an entire page. The lazy-man's cheat sheet for gathering information. And yes I, of the microwave/instant gratification generation, love to sit back and let the computer feed me info rather than that strenuous and mentally taxing reading that is often associated with knowledge gathering. The simplicity of information delivered through Flash, however, can, and often is, overshadowed and cluttered up with busy websites.

I like simple. Perhaps this is a reflection of my mental capacity, but regardless, too much information translates into zero retention. Visiting some of the example sites on "Elements of Digital Storytelling" made this simplicity preference all the more evident. When I shop - for clothes or shoes or toothbrushes - I do much better when my choices are limited. Not to say I don't like choice, I do, but when I have to choose between 45 toothbrushes, some with gum massaging bristles or plaque killing positioning or 400 grit sandpaper, I become slightly overwhelmed. The same is true, for me at least, when I visit websites. I am acclimated to the layout of the "NYTimes" so the 20 thousand links on the left side of the page, the bright, flashy advertisements that fill the right side and the vast amount of content doesn't bother me as much as it did. However, when I visit a new site that has big, shiny button-links on the left of the page and cluttered content thrown throughout my mind refuses to process all that information, therefore, it tells my hand to continue clicking the mouse until it finds internet tranquility.

I really enjoyed Tofte Project site http://www.tofteproject.info/ It is simple with lots of information and most of all SIMPLE. Did I mention simple? A real time killer. I don't have any idea if I like the CNN site about the Space Shuttle Columbia http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2003/shuttle/ I am sure it had some cool video and Flash, but I never gave it a chance - it is overwhelming. Overwhelming is something I should feel when I get my stack of dense textbooks for the semester. Enjoyment is what I should feel when surfing the web. --Alex