(originally published in The Jerusalem Post, December 2003)

All Flash and Little Substance?

Motion catches the eye -- it's our automatic physiological response. Macromedia's Flash is a popular application that produces moving images on Web pages. The effect is considered cool and cutting-edge -- and sometimes the hope seems to be that using it to create a site will make the company it represents seem similarly cool and cutting-edge. But is it always a good solution? Is it really suitable for your site? Following is a list of considerations to help you decide.

PROS

• It is cool. Really. Done well, it can make a powerful impression. For examples of effective Flash use, visit the sites for Nike and The Israel Museum.
• Flash is exceptional at demonstrating procedures and illuminating principles. Although this isn’t a requirement for most sites, it’s helpful in situations where you want to show precisely how to step through a complicated set of instructions. For example if you want to demonstrate how to use particular software, a brief Flash movie can be worth thousands of words. (Hmmm…I wanted to give you an example of this, so I went to the Macromedia site. I remembered that they had exactly this sort of interactive Flash-based lesson to advertise how to use their new program, Contribute. Guess what? The Flash-based show has been replaced with the less cool, but foolproof and universally accessible, static HTML and images. Makes you wonder….)

CONS

• Cost. Good Flash development is pricier than HTML. Will your site really get a better return on investment if it features Flash? If not, and if budget is a major consideration, it may not be worthwhile.
• Search engine ranking. Good placement for your keywords is highly dependent on having lots of keyword-rich text on your pages. Search engines cannot (yet) process the text in Flash pages.
• Download time. Flash pages have much larger file sizes than HTML pages with the same amount of information. While this isn’t a factor for visitors with broadband access, most people still use slow dial-up modems. Those faced with a lengthy wait will often simply leave for a different site. They’ll never see your site at all.
• Lack of user compliance. Flash is a plug-in, not a built-in part of the browsers. Some users opt not to let it install, and will therefore never see your site.
• Download times. Regular HTML pages are cached in your browser, so if you wish to return to a previous page it will appear nearly instantaneously. Not so with Flash. Each time you request a page, even if you've already visited it, it has to download all over again. This can be very slow and is particularly irksome on content-rich sites, when you may be revisiting particular index pages multiple times.

ONE DESIGNER’S OPINION
Until the majority of Internet users have broadband access, I consider an all-Flash interface more suitable for non-Internet uses, such as kiosks, CDs, etc. However, if your budget can handle it, Flash can make a nice addition to a site -- particularly on the home page. But in order to avoid the problems noted above, instead of doing the whole page in Flash, embed the Flash element(s) in a regular HTML page. This has several advantages:

• Visitors without Flash will still be able to read your information
• Text can be processed by search engines
• Perceived download time will be faster, since the HTML sections can be read while the Flash is still loading

Does this mean that if you don’t use Flash your site will be perceived as dull and old-fashioned? Not if it’s well-designed! Many top-of-the-line sites use non-Flash interfaces. Some who hopped on the Flash bandwagon later reverted to static sites, probably for reasons similar to those in the “Cons” list above.

For visitors, “cool” often takes a backseat to useable. Whatever technology you decide to include in your site, make sure it helps your visitors; don’t let it impede their access to your site.

Resources:

• Flash: 99% Bad (although at the conclusion of the article Nielsen becomes nearly a Flash proponent)
• Flash Usability

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