Flash Intro Needed, Anybody willing to teach a learner?

[convy]

Hello to all out there,

I am currently teaching myself flash and as a relative newcomer to site design I have to admit that its not the easiest of things to get to grips with....
as you will gather if you look at these three examples of sites that I did.
http://www.a1pooltables.com
http://www.angelsinvictoria.com
and my own site http://www.vpvi.com

and NO I didn't charge for these, its was a learning process.

I have a Virtual Photography Business here on Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada and amd trying to come up with an idea for an intro page.
Do any of you design flash sites/intro's as a hobby?
would any of you be willing to help teach/create me make a simple intro page ...

look forward to hearing any response

thanks
Sean
sean@vpvi.com
http://www.vpvi.com

[voodooboy]

Sean, have you gotten any feedback from this post? Please let us know.

[dugfresh33]

Do any of you design flash sites/intro's as a hobby?

Yes. I enjoy it immensely.

The question becomes, does (or will) this intro enhance the message and impact of your site? (As opposed to making people sit and wait to see some cool flashy flying things set to a thumping soundtrack, and then going on to your static flat site that doesn't resemble what the intro conveyed.)
An intro for intro's sake is probably not a good idea. It says to the visitor, "I know why you came here, but first, check out this cool thing I did in this nifty software package." But if your intro sets a theme or mood, and that theme/mood is carried on throughout your site, then go for it.

And also ask yourself if it's relevant. If your target audience (i.e., potential customers) come to your site because they did a search for "I want to buy cool photos," they most likely don't want to get there and watch a movie that doesn't let them get the photos they were after — they'll just move on to a site that does let them get photos.

Did that make sense? I guess what I'm saying is: Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.

However, it's entirely up to you.

[mpact]

I have to agree with "Dug" on that one.
I own and operate 2 website development companies.
I rarely use intros on client's sites unless they specifically request one.
The one thing i have found from doing alot of coporate sites is that the average user doesn't have alot of time on their hands when viewing your site and an intro just makes them move on to the next in their search page list.
If you are going to do intros I also agree that they should at the least have something to do with the site itself.
However if you still need to provide a client with an intro, remember the "cardinal" rules.
1. ALWAYS if there is sound give them some way to turn it off.
2. ALWAYS,ALWAYS give them a "skip into" within the first 10-15 frames of the intro timeline, that way at least you are not running them away if they want to still go to the site.
I hope this helps.
On a side note flash intros are really not taught, just learn as much flash as you can, seek out tutorials and inspiration from my fav site for this http://www.kirupa.com.
He has some very cool fun stuff in his tutorials and very easy to walk through and learn.
Good luck and keep Flashing.
Kenny