Pros and Cons of Flash Based Sites

In the past few years flashed based sites have become quite a craze. As Macromedia compiles more and more great features into Flash, we see a trend of increasing numbers of these sites. The problem is that Flash based sites have been disputed to be bloated and unnecessary. Where exactly do we draw the line? Here's a simple breakdown.

What is good:

A standardized site

With Flash, there is no need to worry about cross-browser compatibility. No more concerns over how a certain css code displays differently in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera. When you position your site elements in Flash, they will always appear as they are as long as the user has Flash Player installed.

Interactivity

Flash's Action scripts provide a vast field of possibilities. Programmers and designers have used Flash to create interactive features ranging from very lively feedback forms to attractive Flash-based games. Visitors will be attracted to return to the site by this whole new level of interactivity.

Better expression through animation

The Animating flash feature allows one to communicate their ideas through animation. Flash animation is lightweight because it is vector based (and hence smaller file sizes) as opposed to real "movie files" that are raster based and hence much larger in size.

What is bad and the ugly:

Site optimization

Sites presented in Flash presents a problem because most search engines wouldn't be able to index your content. This will prevent you from ranking well in search engines, resulting in less traffic heading to your site.

The Flash player

People have to download the Flash player in advance before they can view Flash movies. This will cause your visitor range to decrease considerably because not everyone will be willing to download the Flash player just to view your site. Redirecting the user to the Flash download page if he or she doesn't have the player installed will cause you additional work.

Loading time

Users have to wait longer than usual to load Flash content compared to regular text and images, and some visitors are not patience enough to wait and will click the Back button. The longer your Flash takes to load, the more you risk losing visitors.

The best way to go is to use Flash only when you absolutely need the interactivity and motion that comes with it. Otherwise, use a mixture of Flash and HTML or use pure text if your site is purely to present simple textual and graphical information.