Flash web site design is very much in vogue, especially since the corporate takeover of Macromedia by Adobe. Flash web sites use vector based graphics, in a continuous movie format. They can include sound, to make the website visit a richer and more absorbing experience. Studies have shown that this interactivity, greatly improves the visitor to customer conversion rate.
Tastefully designed Flash web site templates keep visitors interested and make them stay at your site longer because with Flash, you can also use an audio track with animated graphics, to present complex ideas.
Flash movies also load faster than other scripting like JavaScript. But more often than not, designers fall into the trap of “showing off” by overloading the presentation and making the website slow to load, rendering efforts like SEO, (Search Engine Optimization), less effective. That’s why Flash should be used judiciously.
The following factors might serve as a useful checklist if you are looking to design a Flash web site.
- Create a skip button:
Any visitor will be bored if he/she gets to see the same presentation on every visit, no matter how good that presentation is. In most cases, Flash presentations are unnecessary when the prime objective is to give visitors text based information. Do your visitors a favor and build in a Skip button so they can opt out of the visual Flash supplements.
- Take care of SEO considerations:
Flash is not so search engine friendly, (but it is becoming increasingly friendlier). i.e. if your site's first page is entirely Flash based, search engines will probably bypass it. So what can be done? One solution is to submit the subdirectory pages and not the homepage. Another solution is to embed the Flash into your homepage so there are links and text for the search engines.
- Take care of the time factor:
The more complex the presentation, the longer it will take to build. It is often a better idea to first develop your HTML site, get it on- line, and then work on the Flash additions later.
- Create a bypass for the repeat visitor:
The situation of ‘getting bored’ can be avoided through a number of ways either by using a cookie that redirects a repeat user to a page without the opening presentation, or by letting the user choose when they want to see it. Putting a "View/Skip Presentation" link on your website is something to consider.
- Don’t overuse it:
Using Flash heavily in websites, whose overriding purpose is for convenient gathering of information will have a counter-affect. An example could be a stock market research website. People know what they're looking for and need to read about the subject along with some basic explanatory graphs. Implementing Flash into the website design should only be done to enhance the users experience and not interfere with it - graphs can be animated in sections, to simplify the understanding of an intricate charting relationship.
- Budgetary considerations:
Generally, when Flash is incorporated into a website development proposal the cost tends to rise. By how much depends on many factors but you can almost always count on Flash increasing the price of a website design. For some it's a great value but if you're working with a tight budget you may want to keep Flash for later.
Most people new to Flash have a preconceived notion that Flash web sites would have lasers shooting across the screen and loud techno music playing. This is not the case. If done correctly Flash can make your website a fun, interactive place without losing the professionalism website owners now expect. The possibilities of Flash are only limited by your imagination.
