I’m still amazed at how many people look at me with a confused look on their face when I tell them I work with Flash. “Flash? Like a flash bulb? Flash Gordon?” “Um, no,” I explain, “Macromedia Flash. You might have seen it on Web sites in the form of really smooth animation – it’s kinda… flashy.”

The point is that Flash is still reaching new eyes every day, and most don’t even know what technology has created the visual graphics they’re seeing. Many people, whether they know the technology behind it or not, can mention a cartoon or a site that sticks in their mind for being particularly good. And that is what Flash on a corporate Web site should do – impress and complement – without being burdensome to the user.

Now, you’re hearing this from a true lover of Flash. I would design everything in Flash if I could, but it’s simply not always smart or necessary. Especially when building a corporate Web site, if you design your entire site in Flash, be sure you also plan on building and maintaining a mirror site in HTML. Even Macromedia, the creator of the very product, isn’t shortsighted enough to build its entire site in Flash.

Instead of building a site entirely in Flash, I recommend incorporating Flash elements into your HTML pages. This can range from a complementary animation featuring your logo or latest product, to a more complicated animation for training or product demonstration purposes. Whereas HTML would require a user to scroll through a long page of text, Flash can present a large amount of information in a more engaging way. Flash also works great as a dynamic navigation element in conjunction with your HTML pages (as seen in the main navigation at the top of this page) because the menu items “pop” a bit more, you can add sound to them, and the interactivity will keep your users clicking for more.

Here are some reasons why an entire site in Flash can be a bad idea, as well as some issues to keep in mind when incorporating Flash elements into your Web site:

1. Search Engines and Flash Don’t Mix
Search Engines are a key factor in the success of your web site, and by extension, your business. If you’ve read the ideacenter article by Gradiva Couzin, SEO Specialist, “Why Doesn’t My Site Show up in the Search Engines? A checklist of common SEO mistakes,” you know that every single piece of static text on your site can be your ally. In fact, if you’re really serious about getting noticed by the search engines, it’s best not to have one of those fancy “splash pages” as your index page – that is, an intro page to your site that contains only a Flash animation. When the animation is finished playing (or the viewer clicks the infamous “skip intro” link), you are directed to the site’s “real” home page. Search engines pay a lot of attention to the entry page of a site, and splash pages waste the space that could have been filled with the keywords and phrases search engines are looking for.

If you do decide to have a splash page, remember to add HTML text rich with keywords somewhere on the page, have good meta tags and be sure to add a static HTML link(s) so that engines can find their way into deeper levels of your site.

The load time of a large Flash file can also cripple your search engine positioning. Search engine spiders, like most of your visitors, just want to get to the information, and will give up if the page takes too long to load.

2. The Plug-In Nightmare: Unplugged
Don’t I wish that everyone had the most current plug-in! But as technology progresses, it’s inevitable that new versions are released and web surfers are stuck with a constant job of updating. If your entire site is Flash, users who don’t have the right plug-in won’t see your site. To improve this situation, I often export my simpler Flash files to a lower version just to be sure some of the newbies don’t have to stress over not having the latest plug-in. This is a great example of why you should be prepared to create a mirror HTML site if you do build your site in Flash.

3. Flash Navigation: Handle with Care
A site that is made entirely of Flash can create confusion if the navigation isn’t handled well. For example, I recently reviewed a site for a friend who had his entire site in one Flash file. This meant that when I clicked on a menu item, I was just taken to a different place within the same Flash file. This was fine for delivering the information to me; however, when I wanted to go back, I hit the ‘back’ button on my browser and quickly realized that the button was useless for this site. Because the whole site was in that one page, I ended up on whatever site I was viewing before I typed in my friend’s URL. What’s worse, after I hit the ‘forward’ button, I was sent back to the splash page of the site and had to sit through the intro animation again… it was a mess!
If you must build a site entirely of Flash, there are ways to avoid the problems I experienced. One way is to build very clear, consistently designed navigation within your Flash file. Keep the same menu items at the top of every page, and provide ‘back/forward’ choices so the visitor isn’t as likely to hit the browser’s ‘back’ button. Another way is to have each link go to a new page with a separate Flash file so that the ‘back’ and ‘forward’ browser buttons work as expected.

4. Load time: Be Kind to Those “Less Fortunate”
I have to admit I’ve gotten pretty spoiled these last couple years with my T1 connection speeds here in San Francisco. I go home and visit my family in Steamboat, Colorado and find it grueling to wait for the pages to slowly appear through their 56k modem. The word “molasses” comes to mind. Paint drying. You get the picture. Bottom line, I live in a bubble of super-fast connectivity! I think and dream in this motion of go, go, go and I love it! I see a lot of sites designed with this in mind. Corporate sites use blurred images to imply that communications are traveling at light speed, and Flash junkies of the MTV generation have things moving so fast that it can be dizzying. The reality is not everyone has a DSL or T1 connection. In fact, a study* done in September, 2001 reported that only 54 percent of the U.S. population is using the Internet and 80% of them are on dial-up modems. That pretty much pops my “bubble of super-fast connectivity” and forces me to work smarter in my personal and professional design work.

This is not to say that all Flash files are too large for dial-up – quite the contrary. Well-optimized, small Flash files can be easily viewed by almost anyone. Flash also has great streaming capabilities for cartoons or lengthy animations – it just needs a little bit of load time, and the rest will load while the movie is playing. Making use of preloaders, and using the built-in “Show Streaming” feature in Flash will help you optimize your file for as low as a 14.4 modem up to DSL, or even a custom speed of your choosing. Regardless, it’s important to check with your site’s Flash developer to make sure they are doing everything they can to optimize load time.

There are many things to consider when integrating Flash on your Web site. And, until my dream of everyone being on DSL and equipped with the right plug-ins becomes reality, we have a responsibility to use Flash with restraint and good judgment. By thinking of the big picture, your site can benefit from the engaging nature of Flash and still be at the top in the search engines. Most importantly, visitors will be able to easily view and navigate your site!