Thoughts on moock.org

[lind]

Have you guys checked Moock.org (http://moock.org) recently? It doesn't seem to work on IE or the Flock (http://flock.com/) browser on XP home...what do you guys think of this site?

[CyanBlue]

Works fine when I test it on my IE6... ;)

[lind]

For me the site is sluggish and confusing and the navigation doesn't seem to work. Plus it's not the most user-friendly site in the world...makes me question whether I should buy his Actionscript 3 book.

[CyanBlue]

That's true... His site is somewhat confusing...
But he is NO designer... There is a limit you have as a developer... ;)

[tg]

all i get is a grey screen with some ****ed up music playing in the back ground... what is supposed to happen?

oh... now i'm getting some dandelions or something growning on the bottom of the page.

yep, it seams pretty terrible (and slow), and i can't turn off the noise.

[sfhazel]

Well I like the simple opening. The navigation popped up for me fine in IE 6. I wish the whole thing were in Flash though, I don't like waiting for the navigation every time I click back.

[pixelwit]

I saw him at a presentation a few years ago and he mentioned his site at that time. It has something to do with user interaction. Like if 5 people are on the site at the same time there will be 4 other arrow cursors (and maybe 4 other flowers as well) showing how the other people are moving their mouse. You may even be able to interact with the other people's cursors, I'm not really sure. I opened the site in both IE and Firefox, clicked the Avatar Chat link in Firefox and got this "Navigation request sent to other users" message then when I look in IE, there's a "Send user#### to Avatar Chat" button. Clicking the button in IE then sends user#### (me in Firefox) to the Avatar chat page elsewhere on the site.

I think it's to promote cooperation (a "unity" of sorts) plus it has a certain voyeuristic aspect as you can watch other people use the site. Your confusion and erratic mouse actions provide interest to other users who may or may not understand what's going on.

The lack of graphics or "art" is probably meant to emphasize the "interaction" aspect. Granted, it's not much to look at when nobody else is there but maybe that's why there's a bit more emphasis on sounds. I've also noticed the site seems to sound different at different times.

I wouldn't say he's "NO" designer, it's just that the site is designed for a purpose different from most other sites.

As far as buying his book goes... just do it. In my opinion, few other people know as much about AS or express it as well.

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[jjbilly]

Somehow, you want Moock's site to be as good as his books, (and you expect him to be applying good principles of web design); but he's a coder, not a designer, so he doesn't pull it off. But he's a good coder, and an excellent teacher, so don't let it stop you getting the books.

[tg]

thanks for the explanation pixelwit.... that makes since, and would explain the speed issues possible, i was wondering about all the extra mouse cursors.... maybe some explaination on the site would help eleviate some folks (my) confusion.

he still needs to kill, or allow the user to kill the noise.

[pixelwit]

Something tells me that your confusion is his pleasure. I know the type. ;)

-PiXELWiT
http://www.pixelwit.com

[oldnewbie]

As your's must be when users ask for help on your page flip! ;)