After breakfast on the first morning of Adobe Max, Kevin Lynch came in front of the 4300 participants and talked about all things Adobe.
This is one of the most self centered, self promoting keynote speeches I've ever listened to.. In fact, it really wasn't a keynote at all.. It was an hour and a half long commercial about Adobe, about MAX, and about what you can do with Adobe. Kevin Lynch traded off with several other developers and designers who would give a run down of what was new with their product or how Adobe was the perfect solution for them.
There was one piece of technology that was very exciting out of all this. That was that flash now supports the H.264 HD video format. So, now you can publish video in flash up to 1080p and it will work seemlessly across multiple platforms that support the H.264 format, like Flash Player 9 on the web, mobile phones, TVs, and the Playstation 3.
One of the presenters Lynch brought up on a stage did have some useful information we all could use. He discussed 5 ways to give you User a great experience with your product.
Websites should not prevent the User from getting at what they want. They are at the website to view content.. Your design must be subtle and helpful for the User to achieve their goals as effortlessly as possible.
Adding that personal touch for the User will make them feel more at home and provide an atmosphere that is efficient for them. This involves skinning and customability of design and workflow for your website.
This goes back to the idea of being subtle. Your design should not get in the way of the User and should accent the User's experience, not inhibit.
Add movement and animation to transitions between navigation. What the User feel like they are actually moving through the UI rather than just one page to the next. This gives a sense of depth into the content and provides the User with information of what they've done to reach their current destination.
Pulling all these concepts together will give the User a unique experience that will stay with them and will keep them coming back and bringing other Users to your site. The Internet is the most interactive medium the average person has at their finger tips, so WOW them.