Requiring Plug-ins

When you design a site that requires a plugin, you had better have a darn good reason that involves functionality that the user wants. Because you are going to be annoying a good number of your site visitors by requiring them to download something before they can use your site.

The point is not to criticize plugins wholesale, but merely to point out that a lot of times, whether you use a simpler coding method, or one that requires a plugin is a matter of choice. I can't tell you the number of times I have run across sites that use complex features that could have been done more efficiently and faster using standard coding instead of trying to show off their advanced skills.

A good many site visitors are distrusting of plugins. So when you build a site that requires one, you are automatically going to lose a certain percentage of visitors. How significant that percentage is, depends a great deal on the average make-up of your target market - some are much more trusting than others.

Impatient people will NOT download a plugin. They will go elsewhere. They also will NOT wait for Flash or other features to load, especially since they are misused so often for things that are not even appropriate for their use.

Plugin downloads are viewed with suspicion with good reason. Active X has a bad reputation for allowing spyware installs, and when someone clicks on a link to download a plugin, they want to be sure it is actually what it says it is - often it is not. Fears on this point are not in any way groundless, and you may automatically set your site up for being viewed with suspicion if your site requires plugins.

The rule is ALWAYS:

Use the simplest method to accomplish the task, and always provide the least possible inconvenience to the user.

When you choose which method you'll use to accomplish the function of the site, you must consider it from the user's point of view. If you use a method that takes longer to download, then it must be something THEY will want badly enough to be worth the wait. If it is only a matter of glitz, and not a matter of providing necessary function, then think twice about it, and consider hard whether your target audience might be more annoyed than appreciative.

The fact is, that special features are more often used as a means of showing off a designer's supposed skills, or as a convenience to the site owner, and LESS often as a convenience to the user, or as an item for the user's benefit. This is one reason that they have a negative reputation among some users (and they do!). If they were used properly, and only when truly justified, there would not be a negative attitude about them.

When you feel that special features will be of benefit to some users, offer an alternate whenever possible, so that users who do not wish to risk downloading something, or those whose computers won't support it, will have an option for using the site anyway. More time and hassle on your part, but polite and helpful, and always appreciated by those who need it. It is a mark of consideration that does not go unnoticed.

Don't inconvenience your users, and don't annoy them. If you are going to require something extra of them, then make sure that THEY think it is worth it.

Written by Laura Wheeler