I’ll skip right to the punch line on this question: In most cases, it makes no sense to produce a Flash-only website. There you go, done!
There are very few exceptions to this but exceptions there are. For example, when the user experience is the top priority for what you’re building or if your main distribution channel is a CD- or DVD-ROM and you also wish to make this content available via the Internet.
Keep this equation in mind once you fall in love with Flash!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying to avoid the use of Flash in websites, but I am saying that you can expect to run into a bunch of problems when you base your complete site on this technology.
The top 5 downsides of Adobe Flash sites
I won’t talk too much about the pros of using Flash here. It’s quite evident that the possibilities are superior and by mixing graphics, animation, video and audio you can achieve amazing and highly engaging results. I just want to focus on the downsides of Flash to spare you some bad surprises. Here is my “low five” about building Flash-only sites:
- Your content cannot be indexed by search engines.
- Every bookmark made will always point to the entry point of your site.
- You won’t be able to use the text formatting feature of your content management site.
- Development and maintenance costs will be considerably higher.
- Users need the Flash plug in on their computers.
What does this mean? Here are some more practical details:
SEO and Flash
Content in Flash is structured with its very own logic. In most cases all content is stored in separate XML files. It is only through the scripting power of Flash that this content can be presented to the user in a structured manner which makes sense to the user. Search engine spiders can’t yet (some exceptions apply) index this content and you will therefore be excluded from any Google search results.
Bookmarks
One of the nicest features in Flash is that there is no page refresh. As far as your BROWSER is concerned, you always stay on the same page. This in return means that whenever the user makes a bookmark and revisits your site, they will always end up on the start page and not on say the product page or the article that they bookmarked. They’ll have to search again, try to remember where they saw that wonderful product and perhaps they’ll find something else in the process.
Text formatting via a content management system (CMS)
These days, in order to keep up with the demands of publishing and to have in-house control, many websites are CMS driven. And with every CMS there comes an effective and convenient text editor. While it is absolutely possible to connect your Flash site with the CMS content (ie. the webcast player of PWL Capital’s website), you will remain very restricted in the use of formatting, mostly bold, italic, some colors and font sizes. Tables and images will not be a part of your editing power. Thus, many head-scratching moments for your content managers.
Development costs
You can’t forget that all the beautiful and engaging animations, nifty rollovers etc. have a higher price tag than other formats. Flash still requires skills that are not in our main-stream computer skill sets. Creating a Flash site will not only be more time consuming – thus expensive – but you now have limited possibilities when connecting to a CMS, thus your maintenance costs will be higher.
The Plug-In
95% to 98% of all Internet users will have the required plug-in. But what about the others? The iPhone users or BlackBerry owners? They get nothing; can't even get your phone number from your site!
If these five points are of no concern to you, then go ahead and knock yourself out – build in Flash. There are still many possible applications for Flash only websites... but thoughts on those are for another day.