by AJRAD

Created on: May 10, 2008

Flash is an amazing platform for delivering information, drawing attention and generally "flashing" sites up a bit.
It works nicely in small doses, but in large amounts it can be poisonous (for your website). But you have to know how much to use, when to use it and how to use it.

Flash is nice for some things, but inappropriate for others.

It's great for banners, an animated logo on your page is a great way of emphasising what your website is and what it does.

The flash navigation bar is also a widely used tool on websites: a well designed one can make a website appear fancy, modern and "web 2.0", and by the logic of your visitors - modern looking site = modern company. And that is what you want.

However.. if you overdo it with the flash there are going to be disadvantages:
-> Filesize. Flashes tend to be quite big in terms of filesize. If you include fancy graphics or even sound, the amount your visitors have to download to view your site will go through the roof. What if someone on 56k dialup visits? They are definately not going to see any of your site if there are more than 2 flash movies on the page.

-> Compatability. Some people simply do not have flash player! They may also use a web browser that doesn't support flash. Nowadays people without flash player will be few and far between (as will people on 56k dialup), but you still have to worry about them. As your site grows in size and becomes more mainstream, many more people without flash will view it. To keep them satisfied you should have a link to download flash player in plain view on your site, provide a splash page giving flash site and plain HTML site options, or even better use JavaScript to automatically detect if the user has flash and redirect them if they don't.

-> "The Annoyance Factor". The more flash you have on your site, the more potentially irritating it becomes for people viewing it. Don't have too many moving objects because they distract attention from the pain content of your site, and if the content of the site is trying to sell the visitor something then you could lose sales. Don't have too much sound! If your website makes a "ping" noise every time someone moves their mouse over anything then people will quickly leave; think of those annoying smiley adverts that make a noise whenever you roll the mouse cursor over them, don't they make you want to leave the site?

Another thing to consider when adding flash to a site is epilepsy and similar conditions. If there are bright, flashing objects

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