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One of the most common requests I get from web design clients is "can I have a Flash intro with that?" These are words that good professional web design

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

ers dread to hear. Flash intros are an artifact of 90's web design; a fad and a novelty which is still so prevalent that some users still demand it. Fro

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

the website owner's perspective, I can see how a slickly-made, animated Flash introduction must be good thing - what better way to show off their fanta

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

tic website than to decorate it with an expensive (and equally expensive-looking) introduction? The aim of this article is to explain why Flash intros a

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

e a very bad thing in terms of design, usability and search engine visibility.

If you are considering adding a Flash intro to your website, ask yoursel

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

the following questions:

Would your website users like it? The vast majority of web users would find it an unnecessary barrier to the

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

rest of your website. Upon encountering a Flash intro, users tend to either skip it or leave the site immediately. Several surveys and reports back up t

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

is fact - particularly a report by Marketing Sherpa which suggests that even in 2003, 80% of users "hated" Flash intros. By adding a Flash intro you ris

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

losing users before you have had a chance to make an impact. Couple this with the potentially substantial cost of designing such a feature and you find

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

a compelling reason to avoid it altogether. However, the drawbacks don't end there.

What purpose does it serve? With very few exceptio

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

s, Flash intros don't convey useful information; their sole purpose is to act as eye candy. Even if the Flash intro does convey useful information, this

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

is still ill-advised, which allows me to segue nicely to my next point.

Do you want your website to be visible to the search engines?

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

t doesn't seem to be common knowledge but is a very pertinent fact - search engine crawlers do not index Flash nearly as effectively or consistently as

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

hey do for regular HTML. If your Flash intro includes important text about your website, it is far better to present this as regular web page content wh

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

ch is readily accessible.

Are any other established sites doing it? I don't recall Amazon, eBay or Yahoo using a Flash intro, so you p

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

obably shouldn't either. This is a good rule of thumb for any non-standard feature on your website - if the big sites aren't doing it, take it off your

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

to do" list.

What effect does it have on your website's image? The ever-increasing proportion of savvy Internet users perceive the Fla

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

h intro as a dated gimmick. On the Internet, where your first impression may be your only impression, don't portray your website in a negative light fro

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

the very first page.

Finally, a question you should be asking me:

Are you just biased against Flash? Not at all, in fact I use some

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

lash on my own website. I think Flash is a great medium, but only if used correctly (and sparingly). An intro, however, is not an example of correct use

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.diggit.org.ua/article/84098/diggit-Flash-Intros-On-Websites--Why-Its-Time-To-Ditch-The-Flash-Intro.html">Flash Intros On Websites - Why It's Time To Ditch The Flash Intro</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.diggit.org.ua/article/84098/diggit-Flash-Intros-On-Websites--Why-Its-Time-To-Ditch-The-Flash-Intro.html]Flash Intros On Websites - Why It's Time To Ditch The Flash Intro[/url]

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