Logo Design & Website Design by firebubble

Even haters of Adobe’s Flash technology can’t argue that some of the effects created by it are impressively attractive. With Flash your website design could feature eye-catching interactivity and animation, embedded within the rest of your design, or even as a complete website. However, despite the obvious aesthetic advantages there are a range of problems with creating a website entirely from Flash, or simply using many elements of it. From long loading times to simply appearing over the top, some of the disadvantages are ingrained within the technology.

Before starting to create your own Flash website, why not have a think about the pros and cons of the technology in relation to your own website design.

The Pros

Although some other technologies can be used to create impressive effects within websites, there is nothing quite like Flash for an extra special experience. Images and video, audio files and animation; all can be incorporated into an impressive and immersive display that catches and holds the attention of any visitor to the page. With many effects on offer such as mouse clicks or rollovers, and even a timed display, Adobe Flash is a technology that website designers have used to target a young audience.

From providing an activity in the form of a game for the young at heart to stumble upon your website, to developing educational learning tools that youngsters could enjoy on their own computers; the potential uses of Flash are many and varied. Plenty of popular musicians have created websites in this fashion in an attempt to capture the attention of a generation weaned on games consoles.

The Cons

At this stage it seems almost that Flash is too good to be true in providing an exciting experience for a visitor. As with most things in life that thought is correct, because there are plenty of downsides to get in the way of the positives that Flash has to bring to the table.

One of the more obvious issues with a website featuring plenty of Flash technology is the long loading times usually associated with its functionality. Perhaps you yourself have stumbled upon a website that provides you with a timed countdown to the time when you will actually be able to access the all important content. If you were only looking for one small piece of information you may not wish to have to wait for several minutes just to find it.

Search engines have never been keen on Flash websites, with Google itself only just starting to recognise any content and links that are generated by using this technology. With a complete Flash website you may well take a lot longer to reach a decent ranking in a search engine result than with a HTML equivalent page.

Making your decision

You will need to choose whether the benefits outweigh the negatives in deciding how best to create your desired website design. Consider the purpose of your pages. Are they aiming at a young audience with the requirement for an eye catching intro? Then perhaps Flash could be of great advantage to you. For the majority of other instances though, the best bet may be to avoid it for a more search engine friendly and professional looking option.

Author Note: (The above article has been added to our Website Design Articles section as part of our efforts to help provide our website visitors and customers with an insight into the Logo Design and Website Design industry).

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