Is A Flashed Based Website Right For You?

When researching your options of building your website, you most likely have come into contact with the file format known as Flash. The SWF format is essentially animation software that is lightweight (data wise) and allows you to place animated images on your webpage. It can incorporate one small part of a webpage or it can comprise the entire site.

While Flash has its benefits, it also has many drawbacks. Here are the major pros and cons of using Flash to lay out your website.

Pros

Browser compatibility is not an issue. No matter what browser your viewer uses, be it Firefox or Internet Explorer or Camino or Safari, as long as they have downloaded the Adobe Flash Player into their browser, it can be seen and enjoyed by all your readers.

Flash action scripts make any webpage on the Internet an extremely entertaining and memorable thing, and it has the added benefit of allowing a greater level of interactivity between the reader and the webhost. Rather than passively reading content, certain Flash elements can let readers play games, answer trivia questions and send feedback.

Flash can also provide a very cool and professional design element to your website.

Cons

Flash is not text based. Unfortunately, this is how search engines read websites and rank them. If you want traffic to your page, it is best to minimize the use of Flash. Search engine optimization, or SEO, does not work very well with Flash coding, and this can hurt your website when trying to generate web traffic and make a name for yourself.

In theory, Flash is supposed to be more lightweight in file size. However, many web designers use it too much, and too often, and this can become a burden to the readers of a website, especially when they are forced to download a Flash player just to use your website.

A good rule of thumb when considering whether or not to use Flash is to consider what information you are trying to convey to your readers, and if Flash is the most efficient and effective way in which to do it. Depending upon the purpose of the website, you may be able to communicate your message just as clearly with simple HTML text. A mixture of both can also be a viable option, enabling you to provide an immersive experience to all types of visitors.