Flash does tend to take up a lot of CPU power. Unfortunately, the ads are out of my control. Please realize that in order to have GreenHybrid available and free for all, some small compromises must be made.
I didn't have a problem with flash ads on my Mac, my normal system, but this loaner PC became unusable with the flash ad overhead. I had a Hobson's choice:
keep flash enabled - unable to do anything useful at GreenHybrid.com
block flash - be able to use GreenHybrid.com
If I 'click' enable either flash ad, the CPU quickly climbs to 50% with both running, my CPU usage rapidly climbs and soon reaches +90%.
I appreciate the need for advertising but would suggest the Flash technology needs improvement . . . or investigate a non-flash option. Perhaps Java?
Granted, these flash ads may be specified by the customer but they need to understand the problem. To that end, I went to the Toyota USA website and left this not for their administrators. I really think a better flash ad will be more effective for them and GreenHybrid.com:
Quote:
Originally Posted by note_I_sent_to_toyota
Hi,
I am using a loaner PC today and found your Flash ads used so much CPU that the browser became unusable. My only relief was to get the 'flash blocker.' Curiously, this problem does not occur with my normal, Macintosh based system.
I noticed the problem is not universal with all flash ads but the ones you've given to GreenHybrid.com are particulary bad. Just bringing up one flash ad adds 50% CPU overhead. A second one makes it worse and with a couple of web pages, the browser becomes unusable and I have to use Taskmanager to kill it. The problem is independent of browser and only flashbocker works around the problem.
The particular flash ads have text that shrinks and grows and moves smoothly around the field. I suspect this smooth motion and changing sizes is the problem. Perhaps your flash authors could come up with an equally attractive but less CPU intensive version?
Perhaps if you put it to them in a way they understand....
The purpose of ads is for potential customers to see them either to help sell product or to create brand recognition. If potential customers are faced with an unusable site, they are left with two choices.....
1. stop visiting the site altogether
2. use a "flash blocker" to prevent the ads from displaying
Both choices prevent customers from seeing the ads thus defeating their purpose.
Using a non-flash based ad, or a less CPU intensive ad WILL get more eyes on their ads....and as an advertiser that is what they should be looking for.
-Tim
2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD
Black with Pebble interior
Premium Package with Nav & Moonroof
Current ODO: 26,152 Typical Drive: 20 min crosstown in heavy traffic (3.5mi there and back twice a day)
532 Gallons of gas saved
That's 10,642 lbs less CO2 emitted
This would be an excellent time for those who are using the flashbocker to contact Toyota America with your reports. Feel free to reference the trouble ticket number from my report. This is what Toyota sent me two days ago:
Quote:
From : Ask Toyota <toyota_cares@toyota.com>
Reply-To : "Ask Toyota" <toyota_cares@toyota.com>
Sent : Tuesday, April 10, 2007 6:06 PM
To : bwilson4web@. . .
Subject : Flash media overhead makes web site unusable [Incident: 070407-000080]
Recently you contacted Toyota. Below is a summary of your contact message and our response.
Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.
Subject
Flash media overhead makes web site unusable
Discussion Thread
Response (James) 04/10/2007 04:06 PM
Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
We apologize for any difficulty you may have experienced with our ad on GreenHybrid.com . We tried it, and it worked. You may wish to try again at a later time or from another computer.
For more information, please visit Browers & Plug-Ins.
Again, thank you for your interest!
Your email has been documented at our National Headquarters under file #200704101291. If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.
Toyota Customer Experience
Customer (Bob Wilson) 04/07/2007 11:04 AM
Hi,
I am using a loaner PC today and found your Flash ads used so much CPU that the browser became unusable. My only relief was to get the 'flash blocker.' Curiously, this problem does not occur with my normal, Macintosh based system.
I noticed the problem is not universal with all flash ads but the ones you've given to GreenHybrid.com are particulary bad. Just bringing up one flash ad adds 50% CPU overhead. A second one makes it worse and with a couple of web pages, the browser becomes unusable and I have to use Taskmanager to kill it. The problem is independent of browser and only flashbocker works around the problem.
The particular flash ads have text that shrinks and grows and moves smoothly around the field. I suspect this smooth motion and changing sizes is the problem. Perhaps your flash authors could come up with an equally attractive but less CPU intensive version?
Toyota runs several flash-based ads on a website I frequent, and these ads cause quite a problem for a number of visitors to the site. I am writing to you in the hopes that this information can be used by Toyota to create new ads that will help us both out. The flash ads Toyota runs on www.greenhybrid.com are extremely CPU intensive. On PC's with slower processors or which are running multiple applications, these ads cause performance to lag severely, and in many cases, will completely lock up a browser. Because of this, I cannot even visit the site using a Firefox browser and can only use Internet Explorer to visit the site. Even in IE, the site is extremely slow and I cannot use any other applications on my PC simultaneously. Viewing system performance using Windows "task manager", displays CPU usage at nearly 100% when your ads are on screen. Other members have expressed the same concern, and I wouldn't be surprised if there were more users who simply haven't bothered to address the issue. {one member posted that he recently contacted you and provided a report number: Incident: 070407-000080, file #200704101291)
As I understand it, the purpose of ads is for potential customers to see them either to help sell product or to create brand recognition. If potential customers are faced with an unusable site, they are left with two choices.....
1. stop visiting the site altogether
2. use a "flash blocker" to prevent the ads from displaying
Both choices prevent customers from seeing the ads thus defeating their purpose. Using a non-flash based ad, or a less CPU intensive ad WILL get more eyes on your ads....and as an advertiser that is what you should be looking for.
I look forward to the possibility of seeing some new ads on one of my favorite sites some day soon.
Sincerely,
Tim Krug
-Tim
2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD
Black with Pebble interior
Premium Package with Nav & Moonroof
Current ODO: 26,152 Typical Drive: 20 min crosstown in heavy traffic (3.5mi there and back twice a day)
532 Gallons of gas saved
That's 10,642 lbs less CO2 emitted
Re: extended page load times
