Things to consider before using flash in web design

Although multimedia has its role on the web, current flash technology tends to discourage usability for three reasons:

1.) Makes bad design more likely

2.) Breaks with the web’s fundamental interaction style

3.) Consumes resources that would be better spent enhancing a site’s core value.

4.) Overuse of Flash can make your site all but invisible to the search engines (Flash and search engines are like oil and water)

About 99% of the time, the presence of Flash on a website constitutes a usability disease. Although there are rare occurrences of good Flash design (it even adds value on occasion), the use of Flash typically lowers usability. In most cases, we would be better off if these multimedia objects were removed. Flash is great when used well. For example, the current state and popularity of online video streaming with sites like YouTube wouldn’t exist in the way it does without it. The problem is that beyond this the disadvantages of using Flash far outweigh the benefits in most cases. (Jakob Nielsen’s study 2000)

While Google and Yahoo have made some advances in trying to index content from combined Flash and text-based sites, a site built entirely using Flash still faces nearly insurmountable obstacles when it comes to search engine optimization. The minor indexing improvements have not turned into benefits for site owners. A site that uses Flash for specific kinds of graphical content will not be penalized like a site that uses Flash for navigational elements, possibly frustrating the search engines’ ability to follow links from page to page.

Apart from increasing the load time of your website, excessive usage of Flash might also annoy the visitors. Use it only if you must offer features that are not supported by static pages. Being a browser plugin, it has a reputation of slowing down computers by using excessive CPU. Flash 10.1 however will support GPU usage to take the strain off the CPU. Which is nice. Flash is also frequently used for navigation, when it isn’t necessary at all. Remember, by doing this you are making it less accessible to use. Avoid this, as there are many great options using js libraries such as jQuery.

Bottom-line, Flash is good for very specific graphical elements. The rule-of-thumb you should apply is, “Does the Flash content compliment and support the content?” If it doesn’t, or worse, if it actually distracts from or inhibits the usability of your site, you may want to reconsider your choices…

Contact The Net Impact to learn how you can effectively add flash development into your online marketing strategy to enhance brand identity, increase customer satisfaction, improve marketing initiatives and showcase ideas in a way never before thought possible!