07 Apr 2008

Web Design: Surprisingly Static

One thing that’s surprised me over the past couple of years is how seldom video is used as a web design element, especially stock footage. Flash has great video support, most modern computers can play it back at quite large sizes, and most net connections easily allow for downloading a short clip, so I’d expected designers and clients to go a bit mad with these capabilities (lots of tacky excess and a few impressive pieces of work). Perhaps people exercise more restraint nowadays, or video is just beyond the skills of most designers (or just beyond the budgets of most clients?).

There’s some decent video material on iStockphoto if you look around, including short, high definition clips that could be used in the background of a home page intro area or online presentation. I can imagine blades of grass, stormy seas, bacteria and laundry each working pretty well if used tastefully for the right projects.