There was an age on the interet when everything was static. Webpages were created in pure code, and rarely you could find a page with an interesting design. But the times have changed. Programs like Macromedia Dreamweaver made webdesigners life easier. Image editing applications enhanced websites with graphics that transformed them in eye-candy-websites. But today a new program creates waves on the Internet. Macromedia Flash. A program that was developed for professional webdesigners. It had such a succes that nowadays you can find it anywhere on the world wide web. From simple animation, to complex applets that interract with the user, Macromedia Flash has spiced up the internet. Many people started to create websites entirely in Flash. This has some advantages but also some disadvantages. I will try to cover up some of them in this article. When you create a website in Flash you have full control of the design. You can use animation, interactivity, you can do whatever you want with almost no limit. So if you want a super cool site Flash would look like the ideal solution. But nothing is perfect. For example, if you visit a site created entirely in flash you cannot use the full potential of your browser. If you want to use the back button you will have the unpleasant surprise to see that the entire site will start reloading. This will surely annoy the visitor. Then you cant print the page. Cannot use forward and many many others. These are serious problems and they should make you think twice before creating a site in Flash. Have you ever heard about Google? You can find it at www.google.com :-). If you didnt knew, newsflash: SEARCH ENGINES CANNOT READ FLASH! What does this mean? Well lets say that you will never receive visitors from them. This is a serious drawback I say. Google & the rest can bring in a lot of traffic. To make a conclusion: if you make a personal site or you want to show your skills go for it. Just do not expect to much traffic. If you want to create a business related website or you want to have lots and lots of traffic DO NOT use Flash. It just does not worth the price. |
