# Music and Flash Is Awesome For Website



## Fresh_Society (Apr 18, 2009)

Here It is:Crooks & Castles

Well ive heard heard that websites with Flash intros are annoying and that with music too. The thing is I went to this clothing website and it was awesome..It had all of that and now im going to buy some of their stuff because of the immpression it left on me...I want to move my company website into that direction..........................How much do you think it will cost for a website like this??? By the way its Crooks and Castles..


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## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

Fresh_Society said:


> Here It is:Crooks & Castles
> 
> Well ive heard heard that websites with Flash intros are annoying and that with music too.


..and it's true, what are the chances that your customer shares your taste in music?


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## Fresh_Society (Apr 18, 2009)

I would have a song similar to that where its kinda like hip-hop and slow and chill like that.


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## pdpatch (Aug 30, 2009)

The main problem with flash only sites if when flash gets hacked , Adobe is really slow in fixing the problems. So the solution ends up you customers turn off flash, then your site does not work.

So the best policy is to have a dual site, where XHTML or HTML code is there for a fall back.

If so much flash and music was such a good idea then Amazon, and those big store sites would be doing it. But for a niche site it may be good. But then again niche sites don't grow that fast or usually get that big as far as customer base goes.

It's also considered to be bad web edicate to not have a way to turn music off, of skip the flash, so you should consider that.

If you view the source is has a note at the bottom of the page who made the cart, it not a free cart but i don't know how much it is. On top of that would be fees to make the flash. whic can vary from maybe a hundred dollars to several thousand. The you have the licenses fee for the music you use.

Tom


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## spiros_saf (Aug 25, 2009)

Well, most (actually nearly all) of the (real) shops I have visited in my whole life have some music playing in the background of this chill-out style.

But that's normal. You are in a store, the only thing you are focused on is buying so what you want is some cool atmosphere to make you feel good and stylish etc etc etc..

But that's not the way it works on web.

Amy Williams at Squidoo.com :

*[...]Keep music OFF *

4. Don't use music, or have it off to allow the visitor to play it. You don't want a potential client to get fired when your website's music comes blasting out of work speakers they didn't know were on, nor would you want it waking up a baby. Music is very similar to Flash - use it wisely or not at all.[...]

Well, she convinced me...

One good though is making something like a simple Jukebox mini-app on a small place of your website and let users turn it on or off. The image of a small Jukebox-like thing will get their attention for sure. 

And since as PositiveDave said (and I agree with him) it's difficult for every client to share your taste in music you may have several different genres of music for the user to choose from.

But you should be carefull so as not to make this the "spotlight" of your site. You sell tees, not cds etc..


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## madmoto (Jun 23, 2009)

I'm with everyone else, not a fan of flash or music but my reasons were a little different.

They SLOW your customer down from getting to your products. Some may not have it installed, others may have a slow connection. And the biggest thing I personally have found is not many mobile devices like flash and a lot of people now a days only surf the web from their mobile ( me included)


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## spiros_saf (Aug 25, 2009)

madmoto said:


> I'm with everyone else, not a fan of flash or music but my reasons were a little different.
> 
> They SLOW your customer down from getting to your products. Some may not have it installed, others may have a slow connection. And the biggest thing I personally have found is not many mobile devices like flash and a lot of people now a days only surf the web from their mobile ( me included)


I agree with madmoto. If you don't need any special applications for your site, mobile phone surfers is a very good reason not to go with flash/music.. At least for now..

Try to open a whole-flash website through your mobile.. Disaster..


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## lincolnapparel (Nov 21, 2009)

I'm not a big fan of Flash or music on a website. Music on a website tends to startle me. I may not hear the music if I am already listening to my own music. Even CD-selling sites don't play music automatically, you click a button or a link to hear the music.

I browse with Flash turned off by default (even though I have the plugin installed). I find many of the uses of Flash to be distracting. I turn it on only if a site absolutely needs it. If I encounter a Flash intro, or a site that requires Flash to navigate, I often hit the Back button, and leave the website.

The first thing I look for when I go to a T-shirt site is the designs. Your focus should be on that. Use Flash and music to enhance your website, but don't make it mandatory. And if you use music, have a button to turn it on (it should be off by default).


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## jkruse (Oct 10, 2008)

As a e-commerce designer and store owner I would suggest not doing an all flash site and having music.

Ever gone to a site and hated the music looked for the off button and couldn't find it so you left, happens all the time.

Flash is just hard to update. Run it on wordpress and an e-commerce setup like storenvy or magento and you'll be way better off.


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## DCconviction (Oct 25, 2009)

I kind of found that website very annoying. Like, the "Enter" slide thing is very annoying because of the hellicopter sound and it took a while for it to actually say...Crooks and Castles (it took me a while to remember what it's name was because there was almost no theme to it and it was kinda random. I'll talk more about it soon.) and why say enter? Chances are, you've clicked on that link to enter, not be asked to enter again. Now, to no theme. To me, that seemed like some kind of beach, tourist music, yet the site was very dark and the pictures were snowy. They could at least make the music fit the theme of the pictures. Now, one final thing. Whenever I clicked on the links beside the slide show, I couldn't go to the site unless I turned off the pop-up blocker. And for the record, I hate pop-ups. These are my opinions on this site, but i can't choose what you do. I was only on this site for about 30 seconds.


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## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

That's one for, eight against! Don't do it.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Fresh_Society said:


> Here It is:Crooks & Castles
> 
> Well ive heard heard that websites with Flash intros are annoying and that with music too. The thing is I went to this clothing website and it was awesome..It had all of that and now im going to buy some of their stuff because of the immpression it left on me...I want to move my company website into that direction..........................How much do you think it will cost for a website like this??? By the way its Crooks and Castles..


If you'll notice, the actual Crooks and Castles ecommerce site has no flash or music:
http://store.crooksncastles.com/

That should tell you something 

The crooks and castles brand is large enough that they can do unconventional things and people will still buy. They aren't going there to "learn about a new company", they are already at the site because usually they already know about the brand, like the brand, connect with the brand.

To answer your question about costs, it probably would run a few thousand dollars to get a really well done flash site together.

But if you want to encourage actual shopping, flash/music and ecommerce really don't go together.


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## PreClassics (Jun 19, 2009)

I was thinking about adding flash to my website and after reading this I was humbled. I now just want a user friendly website for all levels of computer literacy. Thank you for keeping me grounded. Having flashy this is great but most people always come back to the simplest and basic forms even in design. 

Also, I took off the music even though I allow visitors to turn it on/off. Keep it 100% brand related. I don't want people coming to my site and worrying about who the artist is rather than my t-shirts / brand...

thank you for posting this.

P.S I love crooks & castles too but never really went on their actual website.


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## Girlzndollz (Oct 3, 2007)

A really well laid out site that is easy to navigate and that functions properly is much more important in my shopping experience than the added stuff. I usually find myself "waiting out'' a flash intro or immediately looking for the "skip intro" button. Music goes off, too. If I don't have my own on... it is off so I can "think".


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## PositiveDave (Dec 1, 2008)

Look at the Google search site, simple white background with a simple search box. The most successful website on the planet. K.I.S.S.


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## spiros_saf (Aug 25, 2009)

In case you are still thinking of this take a look at the following website.

All Things Christmas: For those who share the spirit of Xmas throughout the year.

On the left where it says "Instant Xmas music".

I found it nice and just thought of letting you know.

And by the way, I've kept it playing for an hour or so...


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