Mouse Will Play

Skipton Web Design & Development

Planning a Website

To Flash or not to Flash!

Flash has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, and various web page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications. Often web designers create entire websites using Flash. We often get asked about Flash so we've written this article to discuss the pros and cons.

Pros

  • The ability to include animation, videos and moving images.
  • The ability to use any font, not just 'browser-safe fonts'.
  • The support for music.
  • Flash sites scale to any screen size.
  • Flash can be used for rich interactivity such as games.
  • Flash has a 'wow' factor.
  • Sites built in Flash can be exciting and memorable.

Cons

  • For the most part, Flash isn't readable by search engines so a standard HTML site should be developed alongside a Flash site.
  • People who don't have Flash installed won't see the site so again, a standard HTML site should be developed alongside a Flash site.
  • Apple decided not to support Flash on the iPhone and iPad - choosing instead to promote HTML5
  • Flash is more complex and more time consuming to develop therefore more costly.
  • Flash sites can take longer to load than standard sites.
  • Individual pages in Flash sites cannot be bookmarked.
  • Flash can break browser functions such as the [Back] button.
  • Flash isn't accessible to people using assistive technology such as screen readers.
  • As Flash has been used extensively for online adverts, many people find it annoying and have chosen to block it. Flashblock, an application that enables people to block Flash, has been downloaded by over 6 million people - not something to be sneered at.

Conclusions

Opinions on Flash vary widely across the web design industry. At Mouse Will Play our primary focus is on providing affordable, attractive sites which are easy to use & navigate and are search engine friendly. Coming from this point of view, here are our thoughts on Flash:

  • Entire sites shouldn't be built in Flash. Instead Flash can be used sparingly inside a standard HTML website.
  • If you have your heart set on a Flash intro, you should always provide a 'Skip Intro' button.
  • Where Flash is used, there should always be a HTML alternative.

If you're launching a new car, Flash can be used to produce some very slick effects. If you want a useable, informative, search engine & iPhone friendly, affordable site for your company, we'd recommend using no or minimum Flash.










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