flash me, John coltrane!

December 9, 2003 5:43 AM

Great, intelligent use of Flash for johncoltrane.com.
posted by taz (18 comments total)

plus, you can listen to "Greensleeves" while you are kicking me for saying that anything is "great" or "intelligent".
posted by taz at 5:45 AM on December 9, 2003

plus, you can listen to "Greensleeves" while you are kicking me for saying that anything is "great" or "intelligent".

You've noticed that, eh? It's even worse sometimes when you use "great" or "intelligent" in conjunction with "Flash" on MetaFilter.

Nice site!
posted by Shane at 5:51 AM on December 9, 2003

For once, I agree. And I'm not a developer with a chip on his shoulder, just Joe Public Interweb-thingy user. I usually hate Flash sites for the usual reasons, but this site is good.

One eensy interface complaint: the colored 'buttons' down the right of the main screen aren't really buttons, just decoration, and don't do anything. It took me a moment to figure out I had put the cursor over the text to get the menu. Unnecessary, too: the 'buttons' immediately draw attention because of their color, why not just make them part of the menu?

Nice music, too.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 6:12 AM on December 9, 2003

I'm a developer with a chip on his shoulder. I think the site is OK for what it is, though. My biggest beef with flash is that it completely removes consistency from interface design. I write more desktop apps than web sites (websites typically screw with consistency from the get-go anyway). I understand the desire for aesthetic design but I also like being able to tell what is going to happen when I click here or move my mouse there.

For some kinds of sites, like this one, it's OK. It's not an office app that I need to master to get work done, it's just an amusement to pass some time.

A little flash thing I found once long ago that is interesting is this animation of Giant Steps. It's sort of a mini music theory llesson. Lots of people are pretty obsessed with that song.
posted by RustyBrooks at 6:18 AM on December 9, 2003

amazing site
thanks
posted by cmicali at 6:30 AM on December 9, 2003

Nicely done. Very tasteful and subdued. The music choices are a great touch.

Slithy: I had the EXACT same problem/complaint. Glad to know it wasn't just me. Sure it only takes a moment, but at this stage of the game, web interfaces should be completely intuitive to people who spend as much time online as us, I would think. Even a moment is too long. Both of us clicked the colored squares, that means something to an interface designer.

Adding "some action" to clicking the colored squares would really be something I would suggest.
posted by Ynoxas at 6:59 AM on December 9, 2003

Here is another Giant Steps animation as architecture.
posted by jjj606 at 7:18 AM on December 9, 2003

Navigation in Flash is never intelligent.
posted by gimonca at 7:21 AM on December 9, 2003

repost methinks.

still a great link. i remember almost two years ago i think, working at a desk in a bookstore, listening to greensleeves stream off this site while i wandered around the rest of the internet.
posted by lotsofno at 7:38 AM on December 9, 2003

Yeh, it was of course a toss-up whether Flash or Coltrane would be discussed in the ensuing thread...
posted by Shane at 8:02 AM on December 9, 2003

i'm another one who clicked the colored squares. then saw that nothing happened, wrote it off as broken and closed the window.
posted by erisfree at 8:18 AM on December 9, 2003

This is great, triple post or not -- I hadn't seen it (and surely that's what matters). Thanks, taz!
posted by languagehat at 8:31 AM on December 9, 2003

Oh! You know what? I'm stupid. I searched this on MetaFilter when I first came across it, and saw that it had been posted... but later remembered it as not having been posted. Oh well. Surely the site can't be the same as it was in 2001, and part of my reason for posting this was really just that the Flash doesn't suck. I love the content, but it's the first site that comes up in a search for John Coltrane, so not really a hidden gem in terms of a site about the musician.
posted by taz at 9:34 AM on December 9, 2003

Navigation in Flash is never intelligent.

Whew! Glad we settled THAT debate. Next!
posted by GeekAnimator at 9:45 AM on December 9, 2003

Hmm, like it's ok use of flash. But it doesn't support back/forward buttons, that's just sloppy.
posted by bobo123 at 10:06 AM on December 9, 2003

jjj606: That animation is fantastic! Thanks for the link.
posted by gwint at 11:05 AM on December 9, 2003

Yeh, it was of course a toss-up whether Flash or Coltrane would be discussed in the ensuing thread...

And since you're all a bunch of hosers....

=)
posted by Satapher at 11:43 AM on December 9, 2003

Coltrane would attend Ornette Coleman's shows so he could whisk him away into the late night hours soaking in as much information and understanding as he could of Coleman's elusive and unpublished harmolodic theories. (All we know are bits and pieces given to us by Coleman in interviews, as well as from his bandmates. Coleman insists that an entire book has been written concerning such theories. I imagine he is waiting for death before publishing--that way they retain their mystery and unique translation per person. (James Blood Ulmer's album Captain Black has a Harmolodic Guitar Chart))

One day Coltrane declared "I've got it!" and sent Coleman a check-- sparking the second half of Coltrane's career.

and Ascension is heavy, maaan.
posted by Satapher at 11:54 AM on December 9, 2003