Flash Websites

Flash isn’t all it is cracked up to be.  The current trend in Web Design is moving very quickly away from flash.  Sure, it’s good for streaming video or the occasional animation, but there’s a lot you may not know.

Here is a list of 7 reasons why Flash is not a good idea in design…

1.) Flash is not 508 compliant.

What that means is–Someone with a disability like sight or touch cannot navigate your site.  Simply put, you’re limiting and losing your visitors.

Those with disabilities who wish to browse your site will not be able to and they will choose to go somewhere else.

2.) Flash sites are CPU intensive.

Not everyone is running a top of the line computer.  Insane amounts of flash animation or full page intros are too intense for many of the average consumer’s computers.  Most consumers wait 2 years or more between computer purchases. A 2 year old computer today does not have the same computing power that the over-zealous Flash maniac created for your intro.  Heck, even you probably don’t have the setup they have.

3.) Not everyone has Flash installed.

Flash is something you have to install, usually.  Most Windows users don’t already have it on their computers.  They would have to go out of their way to install it, shut down their browser, then possibly reboot all just to see your silly little intro.  Actually, they wouldn’t do all that because, like me and 82% of other web users, they will turn around and go to another site.

4.) It is usually obnoxious.

Horrible sites like MySpace have brought on a multitude of obnoxious websites which seek to implode your computer with ridiculously loud sounds.  Every survey out there states (with 80% or higher numbers) that no one likes to have music or sound screaming from their speakers when they visit a site.  Almost every time that happens, the customer immediately backs away from that page and refuses to go back.  Very bad for business.

5.) Compatibility.

Flash sites are not 100% compatible with every computer or browser. This could mean the site is unable to display properly or that the customer visiting the page has a computer which is not fast enough to display the animations.  Either way, bad for business.

6.) Website load time.

No one likes to sit and wait for a site while it’s ‘Loading…’ –even for a few seconds.  They want immediate access.  Studies show that if you don’t catch your visitor in the first 10-15 seconds, you’re not going to.  Flash sites have individual pages which means every page makes you wait. That’s annoying and nobody wants to sit through it.

7.) New technologies like CSS and AJAX.

The web is growing and so are the standards in which it is based.  CSS and AJAX are taking the medium to new heights.  They are interoperable between most browsers (especially FireFox) and do not over-tax the customer’s computer.

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In conclusion, please– Think about it before you get all crazy with that Flash site.  It’s not really that great when you have better, faster, and less annoying options out there.