Is Flash Appropriate In A Business Website

The short answer is “Maybe” The long answer is that the question might better be “Is a 100% FLASH appropriate in business?” The answer to this question is “In my humble opinion, absolutely not”. In fact, we have had several clients with 100% FLASH websites to completely remake their websites because they simply do not work. Issues are with search engines and with clients who can’t see their websites.

Of course, FLASH sites do work in terms of visuals. Visit a FLASH you will see striking visuals. But even if a visitor can see a it doesn’t automatically mean that the is going to create business for you, and often surfers cannot even see a FLASH site or locate one via search engines.

WHAT IS FLASH? FLASH is technology developed by Macromedia, a leader in web development tools. FLASH movies are a compilation of many images, elements and text compiled into a nice, tight little digital file that that can he loaded onto the internet. Some designers build entire websites using this technology. Graphic designers quite like the technology because it gives them a great opportunity to show their talent for developing interactive, animated - and, quite honestly, some very entertaining - websites. Remember though, that the purpose of your business is communication with your existing and prospective clients, not to show everyone what a talented designer you hired.

WHAT IS FLASH GOOD FOR? FLASH is excellent as an add-on element for some graphical components of a business website. Combining digital audio and video into FLASH movies has been simplified recently for webmasters, and using FLASH to stream video is a perfect use for FLASH in a business website. Another example of FLASH well used and well received is on websites about presentation rather than information. For example, a rock band’s site, kids’ websites with games, photo galleries and movie clips are all uses for which FLASH is particularly well suited. Does FLASH have a place on the internet? Absolutely, it does, but as a purchaser, though, you have to ask yourself the question “Does FLASH have a place on my business website?”

CAN EVERYONE SEE FLASH? The short answer is “No”. Although widely available and a component of most web browsers when they are installed, not everyone has FLASH installed with their web browser. If a visitor who does not have a FLASH plug-in on their PC visits a site that requires the FLASH plug-in, their web browser will prompt them to install it. PC and web savvy visitors will likely go ahead and do it, but some users (like my mother) panic if a pop-up window asks a question and they walk or surf away, thinking they just infected their PC with the latest doomsday virus. All of that said, a large percentage of people can see FLASH without too much anxiety.

Things to Consider:

THE INTRO FLASH SPLASH FLASH is commonly used for “splash” pages or “entry pages” into websites. We have all seen them, the animated movie or commercial that leads us into a more traditional marketing website. Have you ever wondered why the FLASH designer almost always places a “skip intro” link on this page?

It’s because they know that if they don’t allow people to skip the FLASH splash screen they will lose the visitor. Remember that most internet surfers are impatient and are usually looking for information, not another commercial. “Get people to your main web page and do it fast” should he the rule you follow.<

The trend to the use of ‘splash’ pages has declined in the past couple of years as the internet has matured. It is my (widely shared) belief that if your is about good information, then an entry screen is just a roadblock to your visitors.

THE SEARCH ENGINE Search engines send out automated robots called “spiders” that crawl through the internet and create massive databases of web pages. People then search for web pages based on keywords embedded into the web page (in hidden tags as well as in visible text on the page itself). If it is important to you that people find your website, then it is important to create well-written text and links on your web pages that search engines can find, read and follow. Search engines cannot see text in a FLASH page, nor can they cannot see hyperlinks on FLASH pages and therefore cannot follow them. Because a search engine will see your entire as just one page, with no links on it, your will not seem very important. That said, there are, arguably, ways to get a FLASH site indexed and catalogued by a search engine, but it is not the easiest thing to do and will likely require the services of a Search Engine Optimisation specialist.

RECIPROCAL LINKING If you are kind enough to put links on your for other websites, then you are providing them with a “vote of confidence” in terms of search engine rankings. The more websites that link to a website, the more “important” a search engine assumes the linked to be. Taking that a step further, the more “important” the that links to your site, the higher the potential ranking your site will get. Likewise, sites that provide you with a reciprocal link are, in effect, giving you their “vote of confidence”, and in turn making your more “important”. Remember what I said earlier? Search engines cannot see hyper-links when they are embedded into FLASH. So, although the links are appreciated, they will not contribute to search engines’ perceptions of how valuable your may be to the world - as a result, a those “votes of confidence” go to waste.

Make sure that people who provide you with a link from their to yours do not embed it into a FLASH page. Links should be in pure HTML, or Hyper-Text MarkUp Language. If you provide links to other websites on your site, the same applies to you. Use HTML.

“DON’T BREAK MY BACK BUTTON!” Web browsers all have a “back” button, and software users - more specifically, web surfers - use the “Back” button as a matter of course. It is accepted good practice for web developers to not ‘break the back button’ - render the “Back’ button useless. Unfortunately, because of the nature of FLASH, the back but ton doesn’t work in a FLASH website.

CREATE A BOOKMARK IF YOU CAN People like to book pages on the internet, so that they can return to them quickly later. Web surfers do not always book mark the index page, or main page, of a website. For example, if your site has a nifty currency converter

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