Gucci, welcome to Web 2.0
If I tell you that a very traditional, stylish and high fashion brand like Gucci has decided to build its new website without using Flash, the first thing you might think is: “my God, how conservative, old stylish (and boring) they are!”. Well, I’m sorry but this is the wrong exclamation, what I expect you to say is simply “wow!!!”. Yes, “wow”, because Gucci has decided to drop Flash and opt for a much more innovative (and brave, I would say) solution: Web 2.0 technologies - Javascript and Ajax (no, not the football team! 
, just to name a few.
The genious behind the new gucci.com is Wollzelle, a small Austrian agency which created a unique, innovative yet very luxury online experience.
Interesting to note, a part from the fact that no plug-in is required, is the use of an horizontal navigation. The site also integrates several e-commerce functionalities… So tell me, a part from “wow!”, what else can you say?
*05/09 update: reading the comments posted by some of you guys, I must say I’ve probably been very naive with my enthusiasm for this website and its Web 2.0 definition. Apologies for the lack of dispassion, and for the excess of passion…
Ohhhh!!! That’s quite interesting. Anything to do with Gucci is interesting. That would make me feel awful again knowing how these items cost a fortune.
It seems they’re emulating Flash with JavaScript, rather than creating a true, accessible, semantic (well, as close as you can currently get) site using web 2.0 technologies. Web 2.0 ideas, the social aspects or involving users, are also missing from the picture. Not a wow site for me, just a pointless show-off of dev skills.
I love how they did it w/o Flash, but it runs VERY jumpy on my machine, kind of lags a bit… I’ve got a pentium 4 1.8Ghz, so perhaps it requires a much faster computer to run smoothly… I bet if it was in flash it wouldn’t have been so jumpy during the transitions/fades.
Might be perfect for surfer 2.0 …
Great! I want to know how they did it…
Am I missing something? Or are you? There is Flash in their website, be it marginally concealed.
Code snippet from site:
movie:”flyplayer.swf?file=85th-gucci-final.flv&autostart=true”
And what does Web 2.0 have to do with anti-Flash? Seems to me that Web 2.0 should have more substance than “anti-Adobe” before it becomes anything more than hype.
Let’s keep it clear here. I’m not pro-Flash,
but falsely crediting (or improperly qualifying) a brand’s activities or use of technology doesn’t bring any of us any value.
Hey Scott, I spotted the news around the Web. I wasn’t able to find any Flash in the site, and I thought this was nice to post.
I trust you, and I will be happy to revise my post accordingly. I’m not necessarily a fan of Web 2.0 technologies (until a few days ago I couldn’t tell you what they were) I simply enjoy innovations.
FYI - AJAX stands for Asychronus JAVASCRIPT and XML. It’s a technology thats been around for at least 5 years and is only now starting to get popular due to the rise in Web 2.0 companies wanting to add interactivity without using Flash.
It’s a passing fad that will die off due to browser incompatibilities, takes twice as long to develop as Flash, is twice as expensive (for no real benefits), it doesn’t stream well…should I go on?
Ajax is well suited to small usability enhancements like widgets, sortable tables and dynamically populated dropdowns, but not good for whole site or apps.
what’s special about nice dev techniques when there’s not really a point in using them? it’s not about which tools you use, it’s the thought behind it and which tools you choose to employ for those.
What gets me about the site is it is completely unusable. Try actually ordering a product - the first ten told me to go visit a gucci store… I’d rather know this sooner than waiting 2 seconds for an animation then to find I can’t buy!
Pretty but pants..
its a very nice web site, but what make web 2.0 a better place is not just the tech (flash or xml/js) is the possibility of more interaction from the users.