When And Where To Use Flash


by Dustin Dickens - Date: 2007-09-05 - Word Count: 674 Share This!

One of the hottest developments on the Internet has been the creation and use of Flash based animations. Ironically the load times of websites on the Internet have been going down even with the spread of broadband. Don't make this mistake. Always be sure that the Flash movies on your website load as quickly as possible. You should pre-load and back-load larger movies whenever possible. Don't assume your visitors will have tons of system resources to spare. Flash uses the visitor's system resources, so it is possible to crash an old or heavily taxed computer by asking it to do too much of the processing for your animation. A good Flash designer understands this.

With a few exceptions, an all Flash website is almost always a bad idea. Search engines have a hard time with these types of sites. If natural search engine optimization or SEO is even a small part of your online marketing strategy, then you will want to avoid an all Flash site like the plague. However, if you are an artist or say a Flash designer, then it could be a good fit. There are quite a few design advantages to an all Flash site, but unfortunately they almost always get outweighed by the significant number of other disadvantages.

Using chunks of Flash embedded in standard HTML is almost always the way to go. This allows for a website that is easy for the search engine spiders to index, yet still allows almost the same design functionality of an all Flash site.

Not too long ago I was adding a Flash movie I had created for a client's website but when I went to test it, I got this message displayed as I clicked on it: click to activate and use this control. What the heck? It turns out it is a new security feature in IE. Thankfully it is easily fixed with a short bit of JavaScript. I have included a link to the solution for this problem at the end of this article.

Don't use Flash just because you can. If it will actually enhance your sites design and ability to convey information without annoying or distracting your visitor then go for it. Be a minimalist when deciding how much animation to use on your website. Keeping it clean is the key.

The speed and smoothness of a Flash animation can make a huge difference in whether it is perceived as distracting or as attractively informative. Fast jerky animations definitely catch your attention, but then tend to immediately put the viewer off, becoming distracting and annoying. If a Flash movie is smooth and can be running in the background while a visitor is looking at another element on the page without being distracted, then you have hit the mark.

Staying at least two release versions behind the bleeding edge is always a smart way to go. The Flash Player is now in its 9th full version, and definitely won't stop there. Macromedia, now owned by Adobe, is constantly adding new features to the Flash Player to enhance the capabilities and fix known bugs. There is about a years lag time before the latest Flash Player is on at least 80% of the systems browsing the web. To make sure that your visitors don't have to download the latest Flash Player to view your Flash movie, make sure you only use features that have been out for at least a year. Admittedly having to download the latest player isn't the worst thing in the world, but why make your visitor go through even a little bit of a hassle when it isn't necessary?

Make sure your Flash movies are worth watching and interacting with. An interesting, visually appealing and highly informative Flash movie will definitely attract the attention and praise of your visitors. Using an experienced professional Flash designer is important. While you might be able to bluff your way through to a decent website and even sprinkle in some JavaScript, Flash programming is exponentially more complicated. Save your self the headache and hire a professional.

Related Tags: design, business, online, web, websites, website design, flash, flash design, flash designers

Get the author's other articles on good Flash design and get the JavaScript fix and installation instructions for that pesky IE pop up message: click to activate and use this control

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