Pros and Cons of Flash-based Sites
http://www.iwebdevs.net/articles/449/1/Pros-and-Cons-of-Flash-based-Sites/Page1.html
Uchenna Ani-Okoye
Uchenna Ani-Okoye is an internet marketing advisor and co founder of Free Affiliate Programs
For more information and resource links on websites visit: Adsense Website Design Hosting Simple Easy By Uchenna Ani-Okoye
Published on 01/27/2009
Flash-based websites have been popular for the past few years, and now Macromedia has compiled even more and better things into Flash, It can only presumed there will be even more and more flash type websites around the Internet.
Flash-based websites have been popular for the past few years, and now Macromedia has compiled even more and better things into Flash, It can only presumed there will be even more and more flash type websites around the Internet. Although, Flash type websites have been disputed and called flash and unnecessary. So where is a good place to draw the line? Here is a straight forward breakdown.
The good points:
Interactivity Flash's Action script presents a number of different possibilities. Programmers and designers have utilised Flash to make interactive features that range from extremely useful feedback forms to good looking Flash-based website games. The whole new feature of user ability will usually leave visitors returning to the website for more.
A standardized site Using Flash, you will not have to threat about cross-browser user ability. You will have no more complications about how different CSS codes will display differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox or Opera. When you create your website in flash elements, it will always be displayed as they are as long as the person arriving at your website has Flash Player installed.
Better expression through animation Using Flash, a person can make use of the animation features to present a message in a much better efficient and effective way. Flash is an easier option for animation as it is vector based (which means it has smaller file sizes) in contrast to real "movie files" that are raster based and so use files that are bigger in size.
The bad and the ugly:
The Flash player a person has to install the Flash player in advance even before they can see any Flash related movies, so if you are using Flash your visitor range is very likely to decrease considerably obviously because not everyone will have or want to download the Flash player only to view your website. You will also need to put in added work to direct the user to the Flash download webpage if he or she does not have the player installed.
Site optimization if your information has been presented in Flash, majority of search engines will not have the capability to index your information. This means, you are unlikely to be able to rank effectively in the search engines and that means you will probably get less traffic coming to your site. Loading time Visitors will have to wait for more time than usual to load Flash content in comparison to normal text and images, a portion of visitors may just lose their patience resulting in them clicking the Back button.
The more time the Flash takes to load, the higher risk you have of losing the visitor. The best reason for you to use Flash is only when you definitely need the interactivity and user ability that is provided with its use. Otherwise, you should use a mix of Flash and HTML or just use specifically text if your website is only to present simple textual and graphical information.
The good points:
Interactivity Flash's Action script presents a number of different possibilities. Programmers and designers have utilised Flash to make interactive features that range from extremely useful feedback forms to good looking Flash-based website games. The whole new feature of user ability will usually leave visitors returning to the website for more.
A standardized site Using Flash, you will not have to threat about cross-browser user ability. You will have no more complications about how different CSS codes will display differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox or Opera. When you create your website in flash elements, it will always be displayed as they are as long as the person arriving at your website has Flash Player installed.
Better expression through animation Using Flash, a person can make use of the animation features to present a message in a much better efficient and effective way. Flash is an easier option for animation as it is vector based (which means it has smaller file sizes) in contrast to real "movie files" that are raster based and so use files that are bigger in size.
The bad and the ugly:
The Flash player a person has to install the Flash player in advance even before they can see any Flash related movies, so if you are using Flash your visitor range is very likely to decrease considerably obviously because not everyone will have or want to download the Flash player only to view your website. You will also need to put in added work to direct the user to the Flash download webpage if he or she does not have the player installed.
Site optimization if your information has been presented in Flash, majority of search engines will not have the capability to index your information. This means, you are unlikely to be able to rank effectively in the search engines and that means you will probably get less traffic coming to your site. Loading time Visitors will have to wait for more time than usual to load Flash content in comparison to normal text and images, a portion of visitors may just lose their patience resulting in them clicking the Back button.
The more time the Flash takes to load, the higher risk you have of losing the visitor. The best reason for you to use Flash is only when you definitely need the interactivity and user ability that is provided with its use. Otherwise, you should use a mix of Flash and HTML or just use specifically text if your website is only to present simple textual and graphical information.