i’ve written about how chipotle.com needs another overhaul in the past, but wanted to give some more concrete directions and also cite the google webmaster central blog post about use of flash.

They provide lots of tips, but it boils down to this: use flash sparingly and only for non critical elements.

keep the fun, lose the flash-only

this is 2007. i’ve been developing for the web since 1997. in general the interweb has been around for a long time. we’ve got lots of great technologies that we can use to have fun, dynamic, media rich sites without using flash for 100% of the site. Ajax/DHTML is just one set of techniques for doing that kind of thing. perhaps one day I’ll tear part 4 pages on the chipotle.com site to show how great they could be for everyone if flash were used sparingly, but i hope you understand what i’m saying when i say that flash is unnecessary.

about the only elements on the site that really call for flash are the songs provided in the radio ads section. the rest of the effects could be achieved with some fancy javascript which is becoming a commodity these days from all the plugins available for jquery.

chipotle.com for blind folks

While the Google blog post is talking about how to get google to see the site, it’s also important to remember what www.chipotle.com looks like for blind or visually impaired individuals who don’t use flash:

bummer.

kudos to chipotle.com, but you can do better

and so, i have to say bravo (and brava!) to the folks behind the chipotle.com site. it’s a really pretty site and reflects the fun nature of the company. but when you’ve got “food with integrity” what about websites with integrity? blocking out blind users has no place in the modern internet and now that legal precedent brings ADA laws to websites it’s time to update the website yet again, in a manner that has integrity.