Our Advice
Flash Elements on Websites: Still Hip or Totally Out?
That answer will depend on who you talk to, there are some people in the industry who believe that Flash is still alive and making a comeback when it comes to website design. Some experts say that Flash is great for certain websites and not so good for others. There are some advantages and disadvantages of using Flash. Let's take a look and see if you could come up with an answer to the questions Flash Elements on Websites: Still Hip or Totally Out?
When To Use Flash
Games and Videos: Flash is supported by 98% of all of the web browsers out there. Gaming sites use Flash. Since most games are played online whether you want to play games or build a game site, the advantage is to clearly use flash. More and more video sites are popping up online everyday, videos work very well with Flash because you do not need an Operating System dependant plug in like the Media player and Quick Time require. You can just sit back and enjoy the videos.
Animations and Cross Platform Compatibility: Flash can be utilized on the majority of browsers as we mentioned earlier. If you plan on building a website then you will want it to be able to be seen on different browsers like Firefox and Internet Explorer, Flash will work on both as well as many others. When you want to design an animation site or just have a few animations, flash works perfectly since it originally started out an animation tool. Animations are best create din Flash and are the easiest to see in Flash, nothing works better.
Why Not To Use Flash
Bandwidth and Speed Restrictions: depending on the size of flash program, it can slow down the loading time of your website. People are in a hurry these days and they really won't wait long for a site to load before go onto the next site. The whole Flash site has be downloaded even before it can be used and if you ever want to add more, it will slow the site down even more.
Usability of the Site: Most people of all of the buttons on the web page that people click most is the Back button, you want to go to the page you were on before then you simply click the back button and you are back in seconds. Hen you use Flash on your site the back button cannot be utilized. If someone was on a flash site and they wanted to go back to the page they were on before by hitting the Back Button, the person would be brought back to the site they were on before yours.
The most important reasons to not use Flash is that the search engines have a hard time reading them. Your engine ranking will be very low for that reason and without search engines you may not be getting the traffic that you want. Though experts say that research is being done to make flash more search engine friendly. So ultimately the choice to either use Flash or not it is up to you. Take into consideration what style site you have and see if it is even necessary. You may have a great website without it.


