macromedia flash sitedesign:
Flash Deadly Sins - How Flash can kill your web business
Looks like every client wants a Flash site these days but the realit
is...as flashy as these sites may look, there are many negatives yo
may want to consider before delving into Flash.
Deadly Sin One - Long Load Times
This is the most obvious problem with most Flash sites. Flash files ca
get large in a hurry and if the page takes too long to load, you
visitor will move on without even seeing your site. Ideally, you woul
want your Flash web page to load just as fast as a 'regular' page wit
text and images. And yes, it can be done!
Problem #1 - Images
The whole reason why Flash was developed was to be able to use vecto
graphics on web pages. Vector Graphics are infinitely smaller tha
pixel based images, they can be resized to any size and animate
without creating large file sizes. Unfortunately, many designers us
regular pixel based graphics like photos in their Flash design and en
up with huge files. Rule #1 for good Flash design should be...Us
Vector Graphics only!
Problem #2 - Sound
What is a good picture without sound? Once you have this great Flas
animated page, you want to add sound to it. This is the #2 culpri
resulting in large file sizes and slow loads. The trick here is to us
loops. Flash Music Loops are ultra short slices of music, that whe
looped in Flash play great background music sound tracks that load fas
and sound great. You can find Flash Music Loops a
http://www.flashmusictracks.com These loops that are near CD qualit
and most are only 15k or less in size. They also offer a free Flas
Music Player that allows for the music to continue playing even if th
visitor switches to another page, you can even select a different musi
track or stop the music at any time while browsing, totally impossibl
with any normal Flash implementation. Another thing that helps kee
file sizes down is to use low-res MP3 files for button effects an
sound effects. You don't really need 128k MP3 quality when mos
computer's speakers will sound just as good with 24k or 32k MP3s
Another easy file size saver...use mono!
Deadly Sin Two - Missing Links
This fact is often overlooked. When you use Flash Buttons and Links
search engines will no longer find your links on the pages. This can b
extremely disastrous for your search engine rankings. Search Engine
need to be able to follow links to successfully index your site. Plus
the more well placed links the robot finds on your site, the highe
your ranking will be. When you use all Flash, you won't have an
visible links and you effectively kill any chance of being found o
search engines.
What's the answer here? Use a Flash/HTML hybrid page. Even if you hav
Flash links, still try to duplicate those links on the bottom of th
page in HTML code so the search engines can find them.
Deadly Sin Three - Compatibility
This factor used to be important but today it's no longer relevant. I
the early days of Flash, many web users didn't have the Flash plug i
and they moved on to another site rather than to download and instal
Flash just to visit your site. This is no longer an issue. 99% of al
web users will have browsers that can 'see' Flash pages and you n
longer have to design a Flash and Non-Flash Version for your site. I
your visitors run for the hills rather than stick around to visit you
site it's the load time, not compatibility that is to blame.
So what is a man to do? You want Flash but you still want quick loa
times and good search engine rankings. It can be done but you need t
design your Flash site with all these factors in mind. It is possibl
to design Flash Pages that actually load faster than many 'regular
pages with lots of graphics. A good hybrid design with enough HTM
elements can get you ranked well with the search engines. Th
FlashMusicTracks website mentioned above is a perfect example. It use
Flash Banners and Logos only, everything else is HTML. The site look
good, sounds good and everything loads very fast.
So, you don't have to be afraid of Flash killing your web business i
you use Flash wisely.
Article by Alan Steward, Webmaster and Sound Designer at
http://www.musicleads.net You are free to use this article on your website or in your ezine as
long as you do use it in its entirety.
--
abacomedia
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted via
http://www.forum4designers.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------
View this thread:
http://www.forum4designers.com/message91235.html
