Web Design

When to Use Flash on Websites

Website Design Tips | Website Design Services

The latest rage in website design is using Flash, which is a vector based graphic presentation that can present things in a continuous movie format. It can include sound as well as interactivity. This can present a richer experience for your visitor.

Flash movies can be made to load faster than other scripting like JavaScript and other programs, but most designers have taken the ‘look at what I can do’ approach in their website design and overload the presentation.

There are several considerations before using Flash in your website design. The first consideration is whether or not to give the visitor a way to skip the Flash presentation. If you come back to a site, and you’ve already seen the presentation, you should have a way to skip it. Especially if it is long. In most cases, I skip the presentation altogether, and I’m not sure if it’s because most of the Flash I’ve seen is designer grandstanding or that I am looking for information and not a show. So do your visitors a favor and build in a skip button.

Flash is not search engine friendly at all. When your site's first page is a Flash presentation, you can be assured that no search engine will index your site. One solution is to submit the subdirectory pages and not the homepage. Another solution is to embed the Flash into your homepage so there are links and text for the search engines.

You also should be aware about the Flash development time. The more complex, which are more elements, the longer it will take to build the Flash movie. My suggestion is to develop your HTML site and get it up on line, then work on the Flash and add it later.

You really don’t have to worry about browser issues, as Flash works in just about every browser. It doesn’t work in browsers as old as Netscape 4.7, but it does in most all new browsers.

Another great thing about Flash is you can create awesome presentations that can keep a visitor interested and at your site longer. It’s a great way to present complex ideas because you can use an audio track with graphics to get your point across quickly. Just like you would send out a VHS about your products, you can do it in Flash without the postage. If you want to see some samples of Flash go to Macromedia’s site: macromedia.

If you need a quality website designed by a team of professionals, please call us at 888-324-4091. We can get you a FREE quote and take your business to the next level.

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