Web development
Flash is a powerful tool to add interactivity and animated graphics to your website. Learning to produce slick animations and data driven forms in Flash can be difficult and time-consuming, so developers who know Flash are motivated to use it in every situation. But as with all things technology, Flash has certain downfalls and animating a site using Flash can be a downfall rather than a benefit.
If you have been toying with the idea of commissioning a Flash driven website, you should understand both the positive aspects of Flash as well as the drawbacks. Once you understand these issues focus on your customer base and weighing these together should help you to decide if creating a site in Flash or using Flash for certain elements of your site is a good idea.
Current Status
Flash has become quite popular both with Web designers and with the browsing public. There are certain sites and experiences on the Web that could only have be done effectively with Flash, and some site owners feel that Flash is a very important part of their Web design. But using Flash can be detrimental as well, some customers are immediately rebuffed by a Flash website and while search engine spiders can index Flash websites better than they used to, it still can be very difficult to get an all-Flash or mostly-Flash website to rank high in search engines.
Should I use Flash for my website?
Below are some points you may want to consider before deciding on your websites infrastructure technology. Additionally you may use our free utility (below) to help in your decision.
Reasons to use Flash
- Cross-platform compatibility
Flash is well-supported on something like 95-98% of the Web browsers out there, and if you build a site or application in Flash, you know that it will be viewed correctly by anyone who has the Flash plugin. It is operating system and browser independent. - Animations
Flash was originally used primarily as an animation tool, and that is what it is best suited for. It is easy to create animations in Flash, and then easy to view them. - Video
Video works well in Flash applications because it doesn't require an OS-dependent plugin like QuickTime or MediaPlayer. - Games
Games can be fun, and Flash games don't have the browser support issues of Ajax the bandwidth limitations of server-side games written in CGI. - Vector graphics
Vector graphics can look smoother and more attractive and Flash allows developers to create applications with smooth lines requiring that the customer have a vector-graphic tool installed on their hard drive. - Image replacement for special fonts
Web designers who need a special font family in their Web designs can use an image replacement technique called sIFR (or Scalable Inman Flash Replacement) which replaces text in the design with Flash to get specific fonts. Flash applications can perform script actions, collect data, and do most of the same things that server-side scripts can do. - Makes a site... well... flashy!
A lot of visitors will be easily impressed with a well designed Flash website. Flash animation has a way of emulating cutting-edge technology as opposed to the dry-cut, granularity and monotony of HTML. Flash can in some cases swing customers from other non-Flash websites as users prefer the Flash experience. For this to work, the entire site must function properly and design and useability must be developed in tandom. Nothing frustrates and repluses more than a flashy site promising a unique experience that ends up being a repository of dead links, forms that don't submit and other "no-go's".
Drawbacks to using Flash
- Search engines can't read them either
Search engine spiders are a lot like screen readers, they can't parse images. Plus, many of them have trouble following links that are not standard HTML links - and most links in Flash are not in HTML - they are in Flash. Because of this, many Flash developers have a very difficult time getting their Flash sites to rank high in search engines. In fact, most Flash sites that do rank well, do so because they have two versions of the site - one Flash and one HTML. And then they have to maintain two copies of the same website. - Bandwidth and Speed Limitations
Unless the designer works very hard to optimize Flash most Flash applications and websites can be very large and slow to download. In many situations, the entire Flash site must be downloaded before it can be used. And while it is possible to add in graphical countdowns and other features to make the time pass more quickly, many people still won't wait. - Usability is impaired
One of the most important buttons on a Web browser is the back button. It is used all the time by most people browsing the Web. But a Flash site typically removes that functionality. When a customer hits the back button after delving deeply into a Flash site, he/she is taken back to the website they were on before they visited your site. Then if they return to your Flash site, they have to renavigate to where they were. Some people might be willing to do their work twice, but most won't. - Accessibility is also impaired
Because most Flash sites are based on images, and don't generally have a lot of alternative text, they can be very difficult or impossible for a screen reader to read. - Flash requires a plug-in
While a large proportion of Web browsers have the plug-in pre-installed, the fact is that Flash does require a plug-in which some people and companies don't allow. - Some people just don't like Flash pages
Similar to sound and animated graphics, Flash has developed a reputation among some customers as being more of an annoyance than a benefit to a Web page. This is especially true when the Flash serves no purpose other than to decorate a page - such as an animated banner or splash page. While these customers may be less common than those who don't care, they are often more vocal and more likely to sway opinion away from your site if you use Flash gratuitously.
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