What You Need To Know About Flash-Based Sites
Flash-based sites have been a craze since the past few years, and as Macro media compiles more and more great characteristics into Flash, we may only predict there will be more and more flash sites around the Internet. Nonetheless, Flash based sites have been disputed to be bloated and unnecessary. Where exactly do we draw the line? Here's a simple breakdown.
The good:
Interactivity
Flash's Action script opens up a vast field of possibilities. Programmers and designers have utilized Flash to create interactive characteristics ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive Flash-based games. This whole novel level of interactivity will Always leave visitors coming back for more.
A standardized site
With Flash, you do not have to worry with reference to cross-browser compatibility. No more woes over how a sure CSS code displays diversely in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you position your site elements in Flash, they will Always appear as they are as long as the user has Flash Player installed.
Better expression through animation
In Flash, one can make utilise of its animating characteristics to convey a message in a much more streamlined and effective way. Flash is a lightweight option for animation because it is vector based (and hence smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster based and hence much larger in size.
The bad and the ugly:
The Flash player
People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can view Flash movies, so by utilising Flash your visitor range will decrement considerably because not everybody will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your site. You'll similarly have to put in additional work in redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn't have the player installed.
Site optimization
If your content was presented in Flash, most search engines will not be able to index your content. Hence, you would not be able to rank well in search engines and there will be less traffic heading to your site.
Loading time
Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to regular text and images, and a good number of visitors might just lose their patience and click the Back button. The lengthier your Flash takes to load, the more you danger losing visitors.
The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, utilise a mixture of Flash and HTML or use pure text if your site is purely to present simple textual and graphical information.