Flash for shopping sites?

[EvoMacDuck]

Hi Fellow Flashers, I don't know for sure if this has been asked before but I can't find the answer. I'd like to ask you something.

What do you think about database enabled websites that are built in Flash. A website with a lot of products, that needs to be browsed easily. Do you prefer html versions of these sites, or do you see clear benefits of Flash for this task?

Have you encountered a highly interactive database enabled site?

[jsebrech]

What you need to think about:
- can the user click the back button and go back to the previous product they were viewing?
- can the user copy the url in the location bar of the browser, and mail it to a friend, to show them a product, and have that actual product open in that friend's browser?
- is it possible to copy/paste images, text and so on from inside the site for when you're assembling a wishlist for friends?

All things people expect to be able to do with shopping sites, and all very difficult to do with flash.

[EvoMacDuck]

Thanks Joeri! Those pointers are very helpful 2 me. I'm going take those into account in the interaction design.

I was worried about the back button already. I'm wondering one thing: if a UI is well designed and provides the user everything he needs to navigate, would he still press the back button on the browser? Maybe the most people I think.
I'll check if it is possible to implement a back in Flash.

About the mail a friend, I was thinking of implementing a system, with 'mail a friend' built into the site, so they don't have to manually copy the link. But still, being able to copy the link, products.php?id=29023 blabla is very helpful.

[jsebrech]

Mail a friend is only part of it. What if you're making an online wishlist in your blog, and you want to link to the product from that blog?

What you find is that all the major shopping sites behave exactly like you expect sites to behave, with predictable back/forward behavior, the URL that changes on every click (bookmarkability!), and plain HTML content that can be copied/saved/edited in all the usual ways. Be careful when you break away from that model, because you'll lose potential customers.

And yes, it's possible to use back/forward with a flash site. Google for it.