Flash Deadly Sins - How Flash might kill your web business

Looks like every client goal a Flash page these days but the reality is...as flashy as these sites can look, there are many negatives you might want to consider before delving into Flash.

Deadly Sin One - Long Load Times

This is the most obvious problem with most Flash sites. Flash files can get large in a hurry and if the page takes too long to load, your visitor will move on without even seeing your website . Ideally, you would want your Flash web page to load just as fast as a regular page with writing and images. And yes, it might be done!

Problem #1 - Images

The whole reason why Flash was developed was to be able to use vector graphics on web pages. Vector Graphics are infinitely smaller than pixel based images, they can be resized to any size and animated without creating large file sizes. Unfortunately, many designers utilize regular pixel based graphics like photos in their Flash design and end up with huge files. Rule #1 for great Flash develope should be...Use Vector Graphics only!

Problem #2 - Sound

What is a dazzling photo without sound? Once you have this grand Flash animated page, you want to add sound to it. This is the #2 culprit resulting in large document sizes and slow loads. The trick here is to use loops. Flash Music Loops are ultra short slices of music, that when looped in Flash play grand background music sound tracks that load fast and sound sizeably efficient. You may find Flash Music Loops at http://www.flashmusictracks.com These loops that are near CD quality and most are only 15k or less in size. They also offer a free Flash Music Player that allows for the music to continue playing even if the visitor switches to another page, you may even select a different music track or stop the music at any time while browsing, totally impossible with any normal Flash implementation. Another thing that helps keep file sizes down is to make use of low-res MP3 files for button effects and sound effects. You do not really positive need 128k MP3 quality when most computers speakers will sound just as grand with 24k or 32k MP3s. Another elegant file size saver...utilize mono!

Deadly Sin Two - Missing Links

This fact is fairly often overlooked. When you utilize Flash Buttons and Links, search engines will no longer find your links on the pages. This might be extremely disastrous for your search engine rankings. Search Engines need to be able to follow links to successfully index your website . Plus, the more well placed links the robot finds on your website , the higher your ranking will be. When you utilize all Flash, you will not have any visible links and you effectively kill any chance of being found on search engines.
Whats the answer here? Use a Flash/HTML hybrid page. Even if you have Flash links, still try to duplicate those links on the bottom of the page in HTML code so the search engines may find them.

Deadly Sin Three - Compatibility

This variable used to be important but today its no longer relevant. In the early days of Flash, many web users didnt have the Flash plug in and they moved on to another site rather than to download and install Flash just to visit your web site. This is no longer an issue. 99% of all web users will have browsers that can see Flash pages and you no longer have to design a Flash and Non-Flash Version for your web page . If your visitors run for the hills rather than stick around to visit your web page its the load instant, not compatibility that is to blame.

So what is a man to do? You want Flash but you still want quick load times and great search engine rankings. It may be done but you positive need to develope your Flash page with all these factors in mind. It is possible to design Flash Pages that actually load faster than many regular pages with lots of graphics. A nice hybrid develope with enough HTML elements can get you ranked well with the search engines. The FlashMusicTracks web page mentioned above is a perfect example. It uses Flash Banners and Logos only, everything else is HTML. The page looks workable, sounds dazzling and everything loads very fast.

So, you dont have to be afraid of Flash killing your web business if you utilize Flash intelligently .