Flash Web Design - The Wave of the Future?

There are two camps when it comes to flash web design, those who believe it is the wave of the future and those who do not. To decide which camp you want to be part of, you of course need to learn a little bit about flash web design and try it out as well to see how you feel. The following overview on flash web design should help you form at least a basic opinion about flash web design and whether it is here to stay or not.

However, the real truth for flash is not if it is the wave of the future or not, but if it is the wave of the future for particular websites that could benefit from it. The wide variety of websites show that flash is good for some, horrible for others. Whether or not it will be good for you lies in your website and what you are trying to accomplish. Read the good and the bad of flash below, and then make your own decision.

Some of the Bad

- The back button often times does not work which many people really dislike. In addition to this, links do not change color so you cannot keep track of which links you have visited and which links you have not meaning you will return to the same page frequently and waste time.

- Not every computer has flash, so if you visit a website that is based on flash it will ask you to download a plug in. Most surfers are apprehensive about downloading anything from the web they are not sure of, and as a result won't download it and be able to access your site. Obviously, this results in you losing visitors and in the long run... additional customers.

- Intros that involve Flash are seen as a huge waste of time by most web visitors. They take a long time to download, especially if your visitor does not have a fast connection. While the content is loading, a visitor often heads to a different site especially if you do not allow them to skip the intro.

Some of the Good

- Flash can give you a site that is more interactive than HTML and one that can download just as quick and sometimes quicker, not to mention a better viewing experience.

- Flash is consistent. This means that whether you are on a PC or Mac, use Internet Explorer or Netscape, regardless of age, the image you see will be the same. This is not the case for HTML which looks different on all platforms.

As with every other type of technology, if Flash is the future people will embrace it and grow accustomed to it. We'll see exactly what the future holds for flash technology.

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