Flash Vs. HTML
To Flash or not to Flash. Technically speaking, some people do not know the difference between a Flash website and a standard HTML site but they know they like the animated graphics, slick page transitions and control that Flash offers. In this article we will discuss the pros and cons of using Flash to design your artist portfolio website.What is Flash?
Flash is a program used to create interactive websites. Using Flash you can create interactive content for websites, media rich advertisements, presentations, and games.
What Are the Benefits of Flash?
Flash provides unlimited design options and control over layout, font choice and colors. Because Flash animations are vector based, designers can create interactive animations with relatively small file sizes. Unlike pixel based graphics, vector graphics are small in file size and can be scaled up or down without affecting their quality. Flash websites can download quickly but often this is not the case because Flash Developers tend to be heavy handed with their Flash intro and complex animations.
What Are the Downfalls of Flash?
There are usability issues with Flash, one of the most important being that Flash renders the ‘back’ button on your web browser completely useless. Instead of taking you back to the previous page in the Flash website, the back button takes you all the way back to the beginning of the site which is normally the splash page. Thus Flash destroys the visitor’s ability to be in control of their browsing experience. Flash pages cannot be bookmarked or printed.
Another major problem with a Flash website is that the search engines will completely ignore the content of your site. Search engines cannot index a Flash website which means that all of your written material within your website will never be found. And if your website can’t be search engine optimized, why spend the time, effort and money creating one?
Flash websites also taker longer to develop that an HTML website.
Other Considerations: Updating Your Flash Website
If you decide to develop your website with Flash, be sure to get the original Flash source files from your designer. This can’t be stressed enough. Without these files you will not be able to make simple changes to your site like adding new pages, updating content, or altering graphics.
The Final Verdict
What is appropriate for your target audience? If you are an animator or an illustrator, a Flash website could be a great way to bring interactivity to your work. However, if you are designing a portfolio and the key objective is to allow your visitor to focus on photos of your artwork, an HTML website may be the best way to go.
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