Why
You Should (Almost) Never Use Flash
Macromedia
Flash is a program that allows users to create vibrant,
fancy websites full of vector graphics, animations, music,
sound clips, gradients, and so on. It’s a favourite
of both amateur weekend warriors and large designer studios
alike. Every musical artist seems to have a Flash website
(for example see Coldplay's
website), as well as some of the biggest web design
companies on the planet.
Why,
then, would I say that you should almost never use Flash?
Search Engines Hate Flash
What
good is a website that no-one can find? Since Flash embeds
text like an image, search engines aren’t able to
read any content that’s in Flash format. This means
that when the Google “bot,” for example, attempts
to read your website and place it in the Google search rankings,
it’s unable to do so because all of your text is embedded
in Flash. A text-based website (such as this one) is easily
readable by search engines and is more likely to achieve
success in the search rankings.
While
it’s true that some search engines are becoming more
proficient at reading and indexing Flash-based pages, this
functionality is still limited at best. Some webmasters
provide a text version of their website for search engines
to index, and then allow users to see a Flash version. This,
however, has several drawbacks as well – it’s
easy to make errors, it doesn’t work consistently,
and it will cost you more in web development fees.
Overall
Usability
You’ll
notice that the internet’s largest high-traffic websites
simply avoid Flash altogether. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft,
Ebay don’t utilize even the smallest bit of Flash
content. This is because Flash sacrifices usability for
aesthetics, which is not something that these large companies
can afford to do. They want visitors to easily access all
areas of their site, without fumbling around with annoying
Flash menus or un-readable content. They also choose not
to irritate visitors by using sound effects or music clips,
which most people find to be nothing more an a nuisance.
Some
might argue that Flash does not handicap a website’s
usability, but I beg to differ. In most cases, Flash disables
the “Back” button on internet browsers, meaning
that users can have difficulty navigating on Flash-based
websites. Furthermore, it does not easily allow for the
implementation of “cookies” to remember a visitors
previous activities or logins. It’s difficult to create
a “content management system” (CMS) that works
with purely Flash websites.
It’s
also important to consider that not all users have Flash
installed on their computers. Creating a separate, non-Flash
site for those users without the plugin installed can be
an added expense. Even if a user does have Flash, it’s
possible that they’ll leave your website before the
Flash content has even finished loading. Flash websites
are typically much larger than their text-based counterparts
can take significantly longer to load.
It’s
Expensive
Bang
for buck, Flash is not a wise choice. Creating Flash websites
can be very time-consuming, which in turn means that they
can be extremely expensive. In addition, Flash websites
are often designed so that they’re very difficult
to edit and manipulate in the future. This ensures that
the original Flash designer is the only one able to update
or make changes to your website. Unless you have money to
burn, it’s much more economical to opt for a well-designed
non-Flash website.
When
It’s OK to Use Flash
You’ll
notice that I said you should almost never use Flash. It
certainly can be useful in some applications, as long as
it is carefully and sparingly used. Using Flash content
in place of images, for example, can be an effective way
to “wow” users with animations and dynamic content.
This is particularly useful in industries where creativity
and dynamism are necessary (for an example, see the Boxless
Productions Videography case study).
Unless
you’re certain that Flash elements will enhance your
image and won’t sacrifice usability, use of Flash
should be avoided completely. After all, what good is an
extremely expensive website that’s invisible to search
engines and barely useable, maybe even annoying, to many
of your visitors?
Mark Borland is the owner of Borland
Studios Web Development. With over ten years of experience,
he specializes in affordable web design and web marketing
for individuals and small businesses.
Contact
Mark Borland
Tel: 250.413.7577
mark@borlandstudios.com
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