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Pros and Cons of Flash-based Sites
Web Sites made by web designers that contain Flash have been a craze in the past couple of years and as company Macromedia (ww.macromedia.com) integrates more and more advanced features into Flash, we only can predict that there will be more and more web sites containing flash appearing on the internet. Flash based web sites are thought to be unnecessary and bloated by many web designers. Where exactly can we draw the line? Here is a simple breakdown.
The good:
Interactivity
Actionscript - language used by Flash opens up a vast field of possibilities. Designers and Programmers have used Flash to make interactive features that range from attractive Flash-based games to very lively feedback forms. This kind of interactivity can always leave visitors coming back to your site for more.
A standardized site
Flash has certain advantage, i.e. With Flash you don`t have to worry about cross browser compatibility. No more worries over how a certain CSS code will be displayed differently in Firefox, Internet Explorer and Opera.
Better expression through animation
When using Flash, one can make use of its animating features to convey a message in a much more effective way. Flash is widely used for animation, because it is vector based program (and therefore smaller size of files) unlike real "movie files" that are raster based and therefore much larger file size.
The bad and the ugly:
The Flash player
If people want to view Flash movies they have to download the Flash player - so by using Flash your visitor range can be decreaseed considerably because not everyone is willing to download the Flash player just to watch Flash movies on your site. You will also have to put additional efforts in redirecting the user to the Flash download page.
Site optimization
If content of your site was made with Flash, most search engines wouldn't be able to index your content. Hence, you won`t be able to rank well in SERP`s (search engine result pages) and hence there will be less traffic on your website.
Loading time
Visitors will have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content when compared to images and regular text, and it can cause that some visitors might lose their patience and click on the Back button. If Flash based site takes longer to load, the greater is your risk to lose visitors on your site.
The best solution is to use Flash only when you need the absolute interactivity and motion that comes with it. You should use a mixture of HTML and Flash or use plain text if your site`s purpose is to present simple graphical and textual information.
