To Use Flash Or Not To Use Flash? That Is The Question.

So I think all of us were a little obsessed when all flash sites came out several years ago.  They were fun, sparkly, interactive, and gave the web a whole new life.  The question is, when is it appropriate to use flash?  Or should you use flash at all?

The Low-Down on Flash

Pros:
Flash is software that manipulates vector and raster graphics to provide animation of text, drawings, and still images.  There are virtually no limits to what you can do, which enables designers and webmasters alike to add an abundance of interactive and catchy content to their site.

Cons:
Flash has been in the media as of late for it’s inability to display in cross-browser platforms.  This means that some, if not all, flash content cannot be displayed on most mobile devices, and apple products.  Apple has even gone so far as to change the terms of it’s develop license to effectively ban the use of the Flash-to-iPhone compiler.  So, imagine your audience searching for your site and pulling up a big, blank, gray box.  You can see the downside. 

In addition, popular search engines have had issues indexing content inside Flash objects.  Just like an image you have embedded all of your text in, it will not count towards the optimization of your site, rendering all of the content inside your flash useless when users search online.

So What Should I Do??

There have been leaps and bounds made in the industry by using dynamic content.  This is scripted content that not only allows for search engines to view all of your text, but also provides movement on your site.  This can be done in the form of scrolling, sliding, expanding, contracting, randomizing, fading, etc.  While it lacks the “sparkly effect” of flash, it can accomplish the job of engaging your audience without sacrificing search performance.

In the end, the choice is yours.  For nationally branded companies, like Nike, Toyota & Dell, who all feature a large portion of their website in flash, it’s not a big deal.  People don’t tend to have a problem finding their products online, and they have a large budget to create mobile friendly sites to parallel the PC version.  For the small business owner, a careful evaluation of the pros and cons should be in order.