Why we have a love of flash….
Flash & Virtual Tours
Most people don’t pay much attention to what format virtual tours are provided in, but in reality it should be one of the first things you should ask when finding a virtual tour company.
Virtual tours come in a range of formats. The aim of this blog post is to explain the difference between them, and explain why Flash is the best format for your virtual tours.
Back in the day…
10+ years ago when virtual tours were pretty new on the scene, the most popular formats were Java and Quicktime. Both are simple formats that offer a basic, and in the case of Java, low quality virtual tour experience. Each of those formats required the user to have a specific ‘plug in’ installed on their computer, and as many people didn’t have this the majority of users didn’t stick around to see the tour. The result was a tour that only a fraction could experience.
Times thankfully moved on, and technology also moved at a rapid rate. Adobe launched their ‘Flash’ application for viewing online media and people loved it. It allowed the user to experience things on a different level, and also allowed a level of interactivity that had not been seen before.
Luckily the virtual tour industry realised that flash tours were the future and a number of flash development programs focused specifically on virtual tour creation emerged.
So why Flash?
Using flash to produce virtual tours allows us to be a lot more creative. Here are just a few of the features we can build into our Flash tours:
- Interactive hot spots to navigate between scenes
- Information tabs that contain specifically targeted sales copy or educational text / images.
- Sound or even moving video in the tours.
- Thumbnail or floorplan navigation.
The best thing about Flash is that 98% of computers have Flash enabled. This means there are no awkward plugins to install, no error messages and no blank spaces where the tour should be.
Do some companies still use Java and Quicktime?
Yes. Unfortunately there are still virtual tour providers using these now dated formats for their virtual tours.
Here at 360 Virtual Tours, we provide all our projects is Flash format!
Always make sure you’re up to date!
Although older versions of Flash will run fine with our tours, always ensure you have the latest version on your computer.
To find out your version and to update, visit Adobe here: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
