100% flash website

[beco73]

Hi,

I see some sites 100% flash. Isn't this a very bad idea? I mean if you have your site all flash that means no search engine will be able to index you.

thanks

 

[thatrenowned]

It can be a bad idea for a number of reasons:

* It requires the user to have the flash plugin installed (not that big a problem since most people have it anyway).

* Its more often than not harder to update a Flash site than HTML. Not only is the process for doing it longer, you need Flash (HTML only needs a minimum of Notepad) and you need someone who knows how to use Flash.

* Flash sites are usually bigger than HTML sites (hence the need for a preloader).

* FLash sites tend to go for looks more than usability. How annoying is is when you want to go to the previous section but have to watch a silly animation over and over again!

Of course, there are loads more reasons why its a bad idea, but then Flash sites have their advantages too. Its best to stick to a mixture of both though which is why most sites either do this or have an option to view the Flash based or HTML version of the site.

 

[pixl8r]

There are ways around the search engine issue. And I actually disagree with most of thatrenowned's comments.

* The saturation level of the flash plugin on the internet is 97% (if you believe Macromedia's statistics). I would not even call that a consideration.

* Having Flash (and someone who knows how to use it) would not really be an issue if you have already created the flash site. There are many tricks for building dynamic flash sites that can be maintained by simply updating text files. This can actually be easier than updating HTML because no code knowledge is necessary. You can also easily build data driven flash sites with an interface for updates.

* It is true that Flash sites can be larger, but that usually depends on how much audio, images, or movies you have loaded into them. If you load those items at runtime you save yourself a bundle on download times. In other words file (site) sizes are manageable.

* A well developed flash site will not make you watch repeated animations. It is much the same as a well developed site in HTML, it really just depends on the person who designed/implemented the interface.

All that said... I do aggree that in most situations a combination of the two technologies (HTML, Flash) is the more practical way to go... but I for one do not hesitate to create dynamic web sites that are entirely Flash if that meets the design requirement.

Just my two cents.

Wow JT that almost looked like you knew what you were doing!

 

[beco73]

few things .... I did not know flash application can be connected to database .. you mean with out using any other backend lanuguage you can connection flash to database like MYSQL with action script?

Secondly you said there are ways around search engine, how do you do that?


thanks

 

[pixl8r]

Here's one interesting article on the subject of search engine optimization for an all Flash site...

http://www.search-this.com/website_promotion/optimize_Flash.aspx

The answer to you DB question is no. You must use a server side language as your go between from Flash to your Data.

Hope it helps.

Wow JT that almost looked like you knew what you were doing!

 

[beco73]

thanks you said "If you load those items at runtime you save yourself a bundle on download times" what you mean by that?

 

[pixl8r]

You can load images, sound, and video (depending on your flash version) on demand. So you don't have to embed them in your flash file. This keeps your file size down which in turn decreases load time. Example:

loadMovie("/images/myimage.jpg",target_MC);

Wow JT that almost looked like you knew what you were doing!