FLASH a no-no in a website?

Hi,

I posted my website on the "website critique" forum, and most people over there (and some other places I asked too) seems to think Flash is a big no-no on any website.

So, to get a second opinion (or are your the same guys also here...;-) I ask here too.

If you want to see the site its at: http://www.portfolio.pettermagnusson.se

My arguments for using flash was that it was the only prefab gallery I found that does image autoscaling to the window size in an aesthetically nice way. And that my potential customers are art-directors etc that I assumed would not be scared of flash in a site. I dont know???

Rgds
PM

You can't change people's opinion especially about flash. Flash is a great tool, if used correctly. Simple as that. The other people tend to frown on flash because they are just flashiest...lol

I think they just are not aware of what flash can do, either that, or they suck at flash, and are jealous. People like that are worried all about standards... XHTML/CSS nothing else, that is the way to go!! You just have to make the decision your self. Here is my reply to a flash argument not to long ago...

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Not trying to change any ones opinion, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But I must say I agree with allot of the points you guys are coming up with. But if you look for bad things, you are surly going to find them...lol

But I guess I always looked at flash websites as more of the internet's future. Flash websites, can be very advanced, and as well as professional. Their are allot of major businesses that are using flash. Let me name a few...

http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.msn.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/

And just for fun…lol
http://www.kellyclarkson.com/

Those websites all utilize flash to appeal to their customers, and or visitors. But also note that their whole website is not completely flash. Their are reasons for that which I am sure we both know. Here are some completely flash websites that I think are very professional. Most bands/musicians have completely flash websites, such as...

http://www.hilaryduff.com/
http://www.monavie.com/

I don’t feel like naming them all, as that would be really hard. But if you want me to name some more, I will. Of course their are allot of aspects I HATE about flash. One of them is, when I am working late at night, browsing the internet and all of a sudden sound scares the crap out of me...lol

Now to respond to the comments of flash being SLOW!!! I must say flash can be slow at times. But their are some reasons for that. One, flash loads all of the content up front. So imagine loading your whole website up front. Yeah, that might take some time. But their are ways to fix this problem within flash. It is all up to the designer/client and what he/she wants.

I completely disagree with you there. Are you saying that you could make a video without using flash like these??

http://www.mudbubble.com/clients/hth...holiday05.html
http://www.mudbubble.com/holiday05/holiday05.html

Why would you take the time to do that in a video program. To think you are talking about flash being slow. That would be a HUDGE FILE to accomplish with out using flash, and allot of work. Are you that flashiest? It would buffer for hours with a dial-up connection. But I realize it is pointless for me to express my views and opinions as no one on this message board really does flash...lol

I agree a little bit with what everyone has discussed so far in this thread. But I still have to disagree, flash is very useful, and allot of corporate companies are using flash, to appeal to new audiences, and to sell products, and or services, so don't rule out flash totally. I will end my post in this thread with a previous flash argument that this forum had not too long ago.

Here is the link...
http://www.webforumz.com/new-member-introductions/7478-hello-from-cratima.htm
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That is about all you can do, just point out your side, apparently the people that say these things, are not in website design for the money, because if they were they would be doing a flash website.

Notice the starting price for a flash website is the ending point for an XHTML/CSS website.

XHTML/CSS Websites: $500-$1000
Flash Website: $1000-$5000

This is the best I can do for ya, hope I helped ya some, let me know if you have any other questions, or comments, or if you want to know the other side of things, and why flash might not be a good ideal.

Thanks! Always nice with a second opinion... there are many religions...;-)

So, in your book, do you think my sítes use of flash is OK, or limiting potentional customers for me?

In choosing partly flash, I figured it would depend on my industry, and also geography:

I am a photographer and my costomers work at ad-agencies and magazines mostly. (i have seen other photographers with flash based sites, some without a HTML alternative, but im not sure they are right in this...)

Also I am based in Stockholm Sweden, where people are very high-tech oriented, and 8-24Mb broadband is very much the norm even for private users. Some people could have 0.5-2Mb, but hardly no dial-up, and a user with dial-up would most likely not be a customer of mine.

But then there are probably flash-haters everywhere, and I would upset them with my site...

(Also, I found no web gallery generator that autoscales the images to the browser window, without using flash. Is it possible?)

Rgds
PM

I would say that since you are not really looking for good search engine rankings, because your website is by referral basis...right?? Since it has a photo gallery, I would think flash would be the way to go, as picture can easily be stolen within HTML website, and flash makes it very difficult to steal images. A normally website user probably won't notice the difference between an HTML website and a flash website.

Flash is the future.

www.2advanced.com for an amazing full-flash web site

That is an ok website, but I think this website is much better.

http://www.neostream.com/

I cant agree with you Jacob. That site has an intro animation of about 60sec that I found no way of skipping. And the navigation is way to weird. Also I could not get any idea of what they do in that company...

Guess it could work if you know the company and its products, and like a webinterface like an adventure game quizz. And since I got a feeling they do some kind of hacking/warez perhaps its OK for their customers...

Both sites LOOK very nice though...;-)

/PM

I'm sure Flash isn't the future, its been around a while now and if it were the future, it would have made it by now.

If the future is what you are after, look at secondlife.com, many believe this is the future of the internet and I'd have to agree.

Flash is ok when the job demands its use. Many of these designs that are done in Flash alone could have been done with less use of Flash content and more in the way of html. Flash will give you nothing in the SEO stakes without combined HTML content, I'm not flashist, it has its place when used appropriately.

I think you never made it passed the loader. No, you can not skip the loader, yes the website is very cool, just wait....it has allot of multimedia content, it is worth waiting for!!

As we progress further into the internet age, advertisement is becoming more and more prominent. More and more people are using the internet, and moree and more people are getting fast connections. 10 years from now, I wouldn't be surprised if flash, or the equivalent, were the tool of choice for major corporations. It'll give them more flexibility to display their company's product.

Everyone is selling something in some way, flash makes advertisement better.

Yeah, I was getting ready to say something to that degree, but I won't now, since you said it all for me...lol

I like flash myself... it gives certain attraction to the website...
the reason people do not like flash is because it doesn't correspondance with search engines... but am not really have that much ambitions to make my website on the firstl list of search engine...! I just love what am I doing...! and personally I like to see something beautiful...!

hugs,
berjoe

I thought I would mention that Google recently started indexing flash websites, so this means that there will be allot more flash websites on Google!! So flash might very well be the future, we will just have to wait and find out!!

I don't think there are really any questions of whether or not flash has a big future, those who say otherwise are living in the past.

Here are a few companies that have utilized flash,

http://www.gameboy.com/
http://www.fordvehicles.com
http://www.oneill.com/
http://locksoflove.com

There are thousands out there.

It's not a matter of personal preference, it's a matter of which tool is best to get the idea across. I don't think there should be any debate that flash can do more than HTML or any other code. At this point, it's more a matter of what computers/connections can handle flash, which is why I say it's the FUTURE. Already it's really big, it's only going to get bigger as the internet and our computers become more advanced.

As for google-- if they haven't started indexing flash web sites yet as Jacob said, I'm sure with the technology available now they will be in the near future.

I have not seem the gameboy.com website, nice!! I still am a big fan of Neo-Stream!!

http://www.neostream.com/

Oh yeah, forgot to say...nicely put razuel!! I can't wait!! Fiberoptic connections are on there way!! China already has them, US will be getting them really soon!!

When my site was critiqued I heard comments like, I saw the first page was full of flash and immediately left. A lot of people seem to be really turned off by flash. My personel feelings are if I am going to find out my Insurance information on a Corporate website the flash business gets in the way (excluding small embedded objects). If I want to see the features for the latest video game I love a flash site.

Intro movies MUST HAVE A SKIP button..

Agreed, there will always be uses for non-flash web sites, but that insurance company is still a company and having some nice flash work incorporated into their functional HTML-- more formal pages.. would be beneficial.