Yahoo! Maps just launched a new version based on Flash and Mike has the scoop on Techcrunch. I’m posting about it because some people seem to have issues with the user experience of the updated service, and complain that because it is built on flash, it is slower than Google’s take on maps. Here are my late night (call it early morning since it’s 7 am) thoughts on this:

Flash vs Ajax and the world

The infatuation continues between the world and Ajax - particularly when people pick Flash as the alternative. I’ve posted about this twice already, so I’ll just note that Y!’s use of flash in Yahoo! Maps is perfectly understandable: in fact, it makes no sense to go with Ajax with the kind of functionality they are aiming for and wanting to maintain 98% install base.

The thing here is that Flash allows developers to create a continuous and contained experience that 98% of the web is ready for - no browser consistency problems, no “disabled javascript” or “disable activex” (for the IE users around us), etc. It just makes sense. Plus, I’ve heard good things about the new capabilities of the Flex Platform (I’ve been reading about it on Macromedia Labs).

User Experience

People are complaining that Google Maps is more intuitive. I could argue with that. It is simpler, yes, which may be a plus in some cases (in fact, most), but it is not as fluid (if you’re not on IE - yes, I’m serious, try it out) and doesn’t have as much features.

The mini-map is a great experience, and it makes sense on a first look. It is easy to get into how the system works, even for people who have never used any online mapping application. This means that to be totally honest, I don’t get comments from people who are complaining. It may be “slower” on some platforms because, yes, flash does have issues in Macs and Linux - which I too hope they fix. But user experience-wise, this is actually really good.

A critic view

Experience and Flash aside, this new version of Y! Maps is compelling, and actually shows that Yahoo takes time to do things, but does them right (check out their new Email client and now this). If this is better or worse than Google’s approach of releasing early, I don’t know. They don’t get as much user-base because people will go with the first product that pops in, but those that wait, do get a stable web application.

I have had my issues with the Yahoo way a few times (recently, with their approach to blog search), but I can sure see when they play the right cards, and this is definitely one of those. Thumbs up.

I’ve posted about browsers in the past, and even compared all major ones in what became a quite popular blog post. Yesterday though, Apple made me a happier guy by including the first Acid2-compatible official release of Safari with the new OSX 10.4.3 update. This means if you’re using Safari on OSX Tiger, you’re watching the web as it is meant to be displayed.

For those who don’t know what Acid 2 means, here’s a quick rundown:

Acid2 is a test page for web browsers published by The Web Standards Project (WaSP). It has been written to help browser vendors make sure their products correctly support features that web designers would like to use. These features are part of existing standards but haven’t been interoperably supported by major browsers. Acid2 tries to change this by challenging browsers to render Acid2 correctly before shipping.

Passing the Acid 2 test is a very big thing for web standards and web browsers - it means a browser correctly supports web standards and upcoming features. Safari is now the first officially released browser to pass the test 100% (early nightly releases of Safari and some recent Opera 9 betas did it too, but not for the general public). Way to go!

Want to see if your browser supports web standards and passes the Acid 2 test? Click here to run it, and compare how it displays with the reference rendering (how it should look). Right now, Safari does 100%, Firefox is getting close, and IE tears a hole in the fabric of space-time.

Update: Molly notes on IE and Acid 2

Molly posted earlier with several updates about the WaSP, their SXSW planned panel and more importantly, about Chris Wilson (of the Microsoft IE team) on Acid 2. According to Chris, the IE team has their eyes set on the Acid 2 test and understands that the webdev community cares about it. As such, they mention Acid 2 compliance is on the slate, even though as early as IE 7. A good sign.