Comments on: ESRI’s Support Answer Tree

By: James Fee

James Fee — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:11:23 +0000

Fair enough, my problems are more with poor execution than Flash itself. Even simple frames can give you problems with the URL.

I feel that in support situations having a unique URL is more helpful at any stage.

By: John Dowdell

John Dowdell — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 22:18:19 +0000

Linking to discrete information can indeed be useful. Anything which does not follow the URL/anchor model of classic web apps — whether initially hidden in the presentation or requested from a database, whether Flash or Ajax — would have to take the same care in exposing browser URLs for such microchunks.

In this case, I think it’s an effective interface… the Flex-based SWF is used for quickly zooming in on the question through a fast series of diagnostics, and then provides a web link to the recommended document in their support database. You don’t need to link to the Flash screens during its discovery phase… just link to the final document that the Flash interface discovered best meets your needs.

(The majority of consumers had already installed Adobe Flash Player 9 by mid-December last year, less than six months after release. Many sites require its use already, for the far faster logic and media abilities it offers.)

jd/adobe

By: James Fee

James Fee — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 04:38:34 +0000

My fear is lack of static urls. “Permalinks” are what make good support sites. That I can bookmark something and it won’t change over time.

By: Canuck

Canuck — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 03:23:32 +0000

Yup, Lefty, I agree with that….though, most users I think have an updated flash plugin just by virtue of other sites they may visit. Flash is pretty common out there – though I will admit not at all common on support websites.

By: Lefty

Lefty — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 03:18:10 +0000

James is totally right. Flash is horrible. The URL is static and can’t be bookmarked and it requires you to upgrade your plugin.

By: Canuck

Canuck — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 02:39:29 +0000

I agree with the fact that the search function on the ESRI help site sucks. I mean, you search for any given keywords, and you wade through a lot of irrelevant stuff before you find something relevant if anything at all.

With that said, I liked the flash interface. Though limited, it worked. What would ajax do to improve that particular search??

By: Simon Jackson

Simon Jackson — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:30:07 +0000

I agree – I was under the impression that flash was a step forward. It is also being used a lot more for some online mapping.

By: J

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 01:03:39 +0000

Flash is actually pretty cool when its not used excessively! Microsoft.com makes perfect use of Flash and it looks really impressive

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 00:20:44 +0000

Correct that, I first got to know some of them at 8.0.

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 17 Feb 2007 00:20:10 +0000

I’m baffled that I’m still dealing with many of the same huge bugs and annoyances in 9.2 that I first got to know back at 9.0.