Visiting the many golf-related Web sites while doing research for NoBogies is a continual reminder of a major Web design issue commonly seen on business Web sites: using Flash everywhere and especially ONLY using Flash. The only thing I have never figured out is WHY Web designers are doing this in the first place! Perhaps they teach them to do so in college?
I wonder how many companies realize the serious drawbacks and what an extremely poor Web experience Flash sites provide for a very large segment of the Internet-using population? Even among golfers there are bound to be many who simply can not benefit from these types of sites.
Here’s how one exceptional Web Designer and SEO I know replied to my question about whether Flash is still a bad idea:
[NOTE: Mike is the author of an exceptional Web Design SEO blog called UnstuckDigital and offers Web Design and SEO Services. We highly recommend him.]
Instead of reinventing the wheel I will share here what many others have to say about what Flash is good for and why many uses are seriously impacting the effectiveness, usability and find-ability of sites using it incorrectly:
- Why Flash Is Generally A BAD Idea For Your Company’s Web Site
- Why Flash Websites are are Really, Really Bad Idea – Huge debate there from designers who love Flash and Internet Strategists and SEOs who share the limitations [Warning: some bad language.]
- Why Flash Websites are a Bad Idea
- Flash: 99% Bad – Excellent detail on major usability issues
- 25% of All Web Users Are Disabled
Are you starting to see a pattern here? Here is a short list of the issues covered more extensively in the excellent posts I shared above:
- Flash requires a proprietary plug-in that DOES NOT work at all on all systems and must be manually loaded on others.
- No User Accessibility on phones, many PCs, 64 bit operating systems, slower Internet connections, and those with limited bandwidth or who block Flash because they must pay for extra bandwidth.
- Administrative accessibility: can YOU edit your flash files yourself? What will you do if the person who created the Flash is not available to make changes?
- Flash is bad for SEO: Most Search Engines do NOT index flash so your site will have poor search engine placement.
If your site is primarily Flash you simply can not reach much of your intended audience. The solution for those who have already invested in a Flash site is to offer an html version of your site and ALWAYS offer a way to bypass the Flash and get to an html page.
Want to see what visitors to your site see? Turn off Flash or use FlashBlockPro. This is what I see when I visit a Web page featuring Flash:
Imagine someone seeing your site as one large image like that or a page with several smaller identical images. How long do you suppose most visitors who only see these images will stay on your site? The only thing worse than a site full of Flash is one that automatically plays music!
NEW: If you already have a Flash site, are a Flash developer or really want to use it you owe it to yourself to read The Truth about Flash Websites and SEO. Mike specifically explains:
“if your website is driven by Flash a non-Flash version should be displayed for browsers without Flash support”
I would add that you should also provide a way to exit any Flash intro and select the html version manually even if your browser DOES support Flash!
NEW: Many Web site owners THINK they really, really want a Flash site. The solution to this issue and some others is to buy them a copy of the book Don’t Make Me Think. Giving one to the decision makers is a good way to get your points across without being confrontational. I’ve heard of consultants giving copies to CEOs, CIOs, or whomever is pushing for a Flash site. Here is more information on it:
*** Don’t Make Me Think by Steven Krug *** Every person involved in the design, creation, ownership or any other aspect of any Web site should own this book. It is simple, concise, to the point, and easy enough for anyone to understand – even people with no Internet or technical background.
You can read a Sample Chapter from the book. Buying a copy of this book for every member of your Team will be the best thing any Web site owner ever did. You’ll never make obvious mistakes again if you keep this book handy! Have a CEO or Owner asking you to make one? Give them this book! [NOTE: Look for the second edition.]
What do YOU think? Let us know in the comments. We use CommentLuv and all comments are dofollow.
More Resources on Web Design and Flash:
- When Should You Have a Flash Website or Use Flash on a Web site (Jun 19, 2009)
- WheFlash and Search Engine Optimization: The Latest on How Well Google Indexes Flash (Mar 17, 2009)
- When Will Flash Become a Trend? (Mar 11, 2009)
- Seven Opinions to Avoid Flash Like the Plague While Designing Web Sites (Feb 27, 2009)
- Create Effective Search Engine Optimization Using Flash–Yes Flash (Feb 3, 2009)
- Nielsen Norman Group Report: Usability of Rich Internet Applications and Web-Based Tools: Design Guidelines Based on User Testing of 46 Flash Tools
WEB DESIGN MISTAKES:
- Jakob Nielsen‘s Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design
- Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 1999 (still relevant)
- Mystery Meat Navigation (MMN) Any non-obvious navigation or text than only appears when you move your mouse over it.
INCREASING CONVERSION RATES:
- Are You Driving Away Your Potential Buyers With These Two Common Mistakes
- Close More Sales TODAY By Implementing This One Free Strategy
- Why Conversions Trump More Traffic Every Time
- How to Grow Your Business In Spite of Gloomy Economic Predictions
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Search engine spiders are a lot like screen readers, they can’t parse images. Plus, many of them have trouble following links that are not standard HTML links – and most links in Flash are not in HTML – they are in Flash. Because of this, many Flash developers have a very difficult time getting their Flash sites to rank high in search engines. In fact, most Flash sites that do rank well, do so because they have two versions of the site – one Flash and one HTML. And then they have to maintain two copies of the same website. But not every website needs flash though it is involves the visitor and it is more entertaining. There are several awesome classy websites which have used Flash beautifully, but then these are popular websites of a famous brand
Sites constructed completely in Flash often offer very little textual information – consequently what information a search engine does find ranks poorly.
Although search engines such as Google and Yahoo are making progress, there is no guarantee that your Flash site will be indexed properly.
This is a very nice link indeed. I just loved it.
I am planning to start a website for kids exclusively for games and was thinking to use lots of flash applications in it. but after reading this post I am really confused dude! Anyway it leaves a room for second thought. Ty lol for the info.
Flash has it’s drawbacks, sure – for ecommerce or SEO priority sites you wouldn’t dream of using Flash but having said that, it’s high market penetration of around 95% and the fact that it’s capable of things jQuery or HTML5 can’t yet touch makes good commercial sense for many RIA sites.
For me a flash website is like buying a Ferrari and keping it locked in the agrage, whats the point?
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I’m not sure where or when Flash became such a big deal, or why, for that matter. I think it takes away from the overall feel of a site. Sure it looks nice but if you are selling something, get to the point! It’s just a distraction and can cause browsers to run slower.
Hey!
I was just having giant pleasure reading your site. It was great time for me indeed. If there would be more sites with so much usefull informations like this one, then my knowledge wouldn’t be so painful to get for me. I can assume that there would be no necessery to spare so much time on searching informations. So in conclusion i just wanted to show you how i am grateful for your effort to make this site.
I’d also like to include that the insanely popular iPhone can’t handle Flash on its browser yet, meaning anyone who pulls your site up from an iPhone can’t see anything Flash related. Just keep your website simple, don’t worry about a bunch of crazy Flash graphics flying at the screen!
Love the post. I needed to source this info for a project, i will post a link back on here once i’m done and you can read it Thanks
Damien
Love the post. I needed to source this info for a project, i will post a link back on here once i’m done and you can read it Thanks a lot
Damien
Great article you have here.These information you have here is a interesting one.
I hope that it will spread to other people.And keep up your good work!
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Twitter: tomoscrowle
December 3, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Twitter: @tomoscrowle
For massively interactive animated sites I still find Flash the best option but there is a lot you can do with JS or libraries like Jquery. I think with smaller sites, Flash just isn’t an option anymore. With the caffeine Google update putting a higher focus on site load time you have to be more careful using Flash. For those still using Flash optimising should be a high priority. Thanks for the post.
This is a good thoughtful post with information that has got me thinking, Flash is for info sites only not for those that plan on adding seo at a later date. For me a flash website is like buying a Ferrari and keping it locked in the agrage, whats the point?
for me its heaviness (slow loading) is one of flash site major drawback. also think that modification is not very easy.
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unfortunatly you can do some amazing stuff with flash, but as all things flash has its pros and cons
The Flash is a real problem for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s very difficult to obtain good position in SERPs if you have a website based on Flash technology.
The HTML5 seems to be ready to be launched. I’ve seen some nice effects made with HTML5 and I think in short time the flash for websites will be history. It will be used just for embed movies and some banners.
I had a client before and when he showed me his website I found out that it is all build up by flashes and it loads really slow. I think using too much flash is not really good.
I agree with coach.
The only good thing I can say about corporate Flash sites is that it is providing a steady stream of work for web design shops to do redesigns. I feel bad for the companies that shelled out big bucks for those “eye candy” Flash sites just to realize that the are a nightmare to maintain and for SEO.
Websites based on Flash can work fine but it depend on what you want to achieve. We’ve used Flash technology AS3 and Papervision3d and maybe we will never be on high position in SERPs but we’ve won FWA award Site of the Day and as you know it’s very prestigious award.
Twitter: lordasep
February 17, 2011 at 1:10 am
Twitter: @lordasep
i agree, it’s depend on the purpose of your website
asep would love you to read ..What’s the Benefit Internet Explorer 9
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