Skip Intro - 5 Reasons Flash is a Bad Idea
I get the impression all our local web designers are anxious to create all our websites in Macromedia Flash. Best I can figure, it’s because they haven’t embraced the web. Yes, in Flash, everything is possible - just paper. There are 5 major reasons to avoid building your websites in Flash:
- It Re-invents the Interface Wheel: Flash provides authors with a blank slate - anything can be a link. It doesn’t need to be blue, underlined text. It can be a tiny, unsuspecting light, grey dot that customers have to ‘discover’ (they won’t). This means more time will be spent developing an “innovative” interface model and more time spent making it work. A difficult proposition for a for-profit business to swallow, suicide for a volunteer organization.
- It isn’t Free: Any text editor can create HTML and all computers ship with at least one pre-installed. Flash itself costs between $500 and $700 per computer + $200 annual upgrades + support costs. Now it’s a separate line item on the budget and the text editor is still free.
- Customers Can’t Share It: Copying text from a website & pasting it into an email is the easiest way to share information online. Flash text cannot be selected, copy, pasted, or printed (thanks Jamie) like HTML text. Therefore, customers probably won’t share event information.
- Businesses Can’t Measure It: Tracking customer usage of HTML-based websites is easy, typically a single line of code is added to each website. The RoundTable uses this line < ? php dstats_record(): ?>. Amazon puts their tracking information in the URL string, look for ‘ref=’ next time you’re there. These 2 link level tracking methods are not possible with Flash - so you’ll never know if or how customers interact with the site.
- Search Engines Don’t Care: The major web scouring robots - Googlebot , Yahoo, MSNbot - only read text. If customers can’t copy & paste text (#3) then it can’t be picked up by search engines and it will never be found.
Update: Google can read Flash, but unless your customers are searching for:
0% LOADING 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% … Loading. Please wait. SKIP BACK
Does it really count?
2 Comments
I see no responses here so perhaps I’ll be the play the devils advocate and respond with a little balance.
1/ Reinventing the wheel
Reinventing the wheel is a broad statement that doesn’t take into account that the web has supported javascript, img links and forms for a long time. The internet population that spends $$s are more literate than ever and it’s up to designers to understand how to effectively balance UI design with branding and experience goals. This is not a reason not to use flash but a reason not to do bad design.
2/ It’s not free?
eerr… it pays for itself pretty quickly. Are we professionals or what? Hell, I pay for text editors that highlight my code because it’s easier to see my syntax. But fair enough, if you’re not a professional then this is a factor… but less a reason why “not” to use flash than a reason why you “can’t” use flash? It’s basically a case of pros and cons, does this product do what I want and is what I want worth the expense.
3/ Copying Flash Text
You can actually copy text from flash… maybe not as well as it could, but I think that maybe there needs to be a distinction made between well coded flash sites with external data sources (possibly using external data such as XML, text vars or a database) being displayed using dynamic text boxes and others that don’t. Different kettle of fish.
4. Tracking
Flash can talk to PHP. Tracking is not a strength of html over flash, it’s a case of server side scripting languages used in conjunction with flash or html.
5/ Search
and actually it can do an ok job on well designed flash sites… but it’s still a major issue. This is one reason that I totally agree is a good reason… for being careful with flash. The key is understanding which applications this is or isn’t critical for.
The key problem with flash is search. Google has moved forward on this (bless them
summary
I guess the real factors that weigh on a flash vs html decision have to do with integration with other technologies, the site’s purpose, and it’s role in the market mix. I think a lot of us who have been in interactive for a while tend to forget that we are still designing for people and businesses that exist in the real world and that people don’t only get to a site through a search engine. Just watch tv and see if they plug a URL, listen to radio, print ads, viral campaigns, word of mouth… Basically flash enables me to be creative and deliver interactive solutions that are targeted to my clients specific business needs. If their needs don’t suit flash, I don’t use flash if they do then flash is a godsend. Being able to make and understand this choice is a good thing.
and there is a print function in Flash that lets a developer code it so that flash text (and images) will actually print at a higher quality than if you use the defualt print function provided through your browser.
just that it takes time and money to do this, and how many companies want to pay for this feature, much less hire a qualified developer who understands the ins and outs of Flash.
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