Feb 09
What’s your idea on Flash websites?
2004 at 02.53 am posted by Veerle Pieters
I don’t know about you but I kind of have a mixed feeling about Flash. I think Flash is really great, you can do awesome things with it and from a creative point of view you got the feeling that the sky is the limit. I would never doubt to use Flash for the creation of business presentations or other interactive projects like games or even CD-ROMs. But in fact Flash’s main purpose is web development. In fact Flash has evolved to a standalone web tool and is perfect for Rich Internet Applications.
Flash is very integrated and well-known on the web. It is a powerful tool that we can’t get around. Nevertheless I always get kind of stuck on the question whether to use Flash or not for a website. There are disadvantages that can’t be ignored. First of all there is the plug-in that you need and you have to think about considering a non-Flash version. Then there is the fact that these pages aren’t very well found on search engines since its “real” content can’t be indexed. Pure HTML pages with lots of text on will be found much better. I haven’t even added meta-tags yet in my blog and I’m amazed how good I’ve been found.
Right now I’m in the middle of the restyling of our Duoh! website and I have this important decision to make whether to use Flash as default to present our portfolio. The decision to use Flash for this section of the site is (I think) good because we want to show our skills. You can show nice effects and transitions between the slides of projects, things that aren’t possible in pure HTML. My first idea was to make this the default version, but then I started thinking about the disadvantages and I’m now wondering to show the HTML version as default and add a button somewhere to give the visitor the opportunity to see our work in Flash. So I would do it just the reverse way like most others do it, just because I want to give the user as much freedom as they want. Do you think this a wise decision? Or do you think I should really do this in Flash and add a button for people who prefer to see it in HTML?
What are your thoughts about this? Or about Flash in general?
12served
1
I think use flash to show skill is right. But i think if you can make a really nice use of html in // of the flash version is also a “bonus” for the show of your skills. You can show you are good with flash but you can also do great things in html/css ... (but maybe you do not need to show you are good in html/css when you can see the quality of the whole website…;-))
2
I feel you can only win by showing your flash skills. As Blob stated if the rest of the site showcases your excellent html/css skills than using flash is is recommended. Especially if you want to get more work through it.
I wouldn’t make flash site dominant though. You make a strong point by showing and using things like flash if it is justified from a functionality point of view. Not just for the sake of it.
Why not show how you can facilitate your clients in making this often made decision? In my experience proper consultancy is added value as well. It can show proper mastery and knowledge of the field.
So, show you can sell bot the html and flash versions! ;-)
Anyway, this was my two cents worth…
3
Flash is great but it has it’s own down-sides too. Among of which, is the steep learning curve to master it’s craft. Likewise, it’s bandwidth-intensive. Not all people on the net has broadband, ^_~.
Striking a delicate balance is essential. Perhaps, it’s safe to let your audience choose a Flash-enabled experience and otherwise. Putting the power of choice, back at the hands of your audience. Then again, it’s effort-intensive for the developer; making two versions.
4
Two words: skip intro :-)
I think flash is great for a subtile touch. Like a page header with a smooth fading background or a subtile animation.
Intro’s however, are crap. I personally never, really never, wait for an intro to finish or even load when I can skip it.
Making flash games is a much better way for saying “Look ma! Look what I can do”. It’s fun, it’s beautiful and it doesn’t serve the purpose of informing or educating, just playing.
Nice article…
5
I was around when Flash was introduced, and saw the sky as well as anyone else. But over the years, the drawbacks became too large.
My opinion, for your situation: Flash is good to create a presentation, a demo, perhaps a graphic or two that would be interactive. But not for an entire site.
Flash should be used on a site, not for a site. IMO
6
I totally agree with Peter DB. I had a try out version with intro , and people didn’t mention , the ‘skip’ button was a tremendous succes ;-)
My opinion : if you want to ‘present’ something ( as in a presentation ) use keynote. If you want to show your skills about whatever program, show it ! ( even with Flash MX, Director, Golive, or whatever..) but keep the WIIIFM-factor* in mind ! Because that’s what your audience is coming for! Once you loose that connection, you might be the wizard of Oz on Flash, you won’t get the required attention and your competitor ( mostly a less-skilled one ) will get the order.
So, I decided to use both HTML and Flash on my site ( hey, and I know the code s..cks ;-), I’m currently working on it and I did it all by myself) to have a nice navigation and to have content ( which gets noticed by the ‘spiders and crawlers’ ) Plugin required ...yes , sure , but do you want to do business with a person still working with Windows 3.1 or DOS ? Time flies, 8-year old’s play Flash games these days ;-)
Use it for the purpose it’s intended and you’ll never go wrong !
* What Is In It For Me
7
I do think that Flash is really incredible but I would never use it for a portfolio, the reason is that most of the time people looking at your portfolio will not be other graphic designer but client who may not know much about design.
Better to put Flash as an extra in the web site to show that you can do it than try to impress a client. Think that most client will be management people not designer.
That’s my opinion.
8
First of all thanks for all those who shared their thoughts here, and for those who haven’t, please do ;-)
Our idea was to not use any intro at all, I don’t think they are efficient or functional. We will use a showreel instead in QuickTime and people have to click to watch it.
Now I’m confident that my initial thought was right because we’re going to use a hybrid site. But I think I’ll choose to use Flash in the portfolio as default to attract more Flash projects. The rest of the site will be mostly based on XHTML and CSS (where possible). Some complex pages might need a bit of “traditional” HTML code to achieve the result as needed.
But one thing is for sure, our website will be validated by W3C or I won’t put it online :-) Except for the errors that the valuator will give on the Flash code… Which I wonder why they don’t adjust this or give a solution somehow to make that possible, after all Flash is too important to ignore.
9
Flash is a great tool. I would, however not do a flash only site. How about having small portions of the site be flash, like a header or something that could be interactive. I think that would add a different style, rather than saying “Look I know flash!.“
I may also reccomend using javascript to see if the browser has flash installed, then you could plug in an image or some other html where the flash was.
10
i agree with you veerle, like you say its defintely all good and et all but like ‘RavenStrider’ says it definitely has its down-sides and sometimes its just turns out to be too many of those when ure not using broadband.
its all nice defintely, you can showcase your creativity and ability by creating your site in flash. the way i see it is if your css/html can be good looking, which is a big challenge when its competing with a flash page, then i think the person if as skilled in css/html can create something great in flash too yes if he knows how to get around the app :-). in flash anything you make will look good cause its in motion, sorry rephrase that :-) not anything but you understand what im saying right? i for one feel its a better idea to give the user the freedom to choose, and if he likes your css/html work he might say wow this is good lets look into the flash, lets see how good they are at that.
its good to have that option to not have to sit through the whole loading and watching it when ure on a dialup or for that matter not on broadband. infact it just happened the other day…I visited a site, (sorry cant mention the site name-confidential :-) some company site) i got so tired of the damn loading as soon as the site loaded i was very disappointed thinking this is what i waited all this while for? i closed the page immediately. yes it does make a good difference if at the end its an excellent flash site. but overall i thinks its a great idea to give that option to the viewer.
yes its true about flash, the learning curve. damn its irritating sometimes :-) i just wish it was as user friendly as photoshop.
if someone can make flash games then your definitely really really skilled, shows you can use the app well which is definitely good :-) but again its a different kinda creativity for showcasing games.
i agree with ‘colin’ “great words colin”, mike you too. i couldnt have put it in better words. definitely not for an entire site and above all depending on who your client is and above all who is going to visit your site.
great article, thanks for getting this out, i used have this question in my head always thinking what and how many people think of flash?
11
Well, if I read all this again, it looks I’m an on the right track here…. oh yes (I hear you thinking) I know the new www.duoh.com it’s still not up, but I’m getting there. In about a month (mid - end of September) it should be up. But you’ll hear al about this once it’s launched.
12
veerle, this is something I came across a few mins ago, this guy has some interesting things to say regarding flash.
http://www.emllabs.com/article.php?articleId=108