Advantages and Disadvantages of Flash based Websites

Are you considering a Flash based Website? If so, then read this post which will contain the Advantages and Disadvantages of having one.

Advantages of having a Flash based Website

Interactivity – Flash supports audio, animation, and videos. If used correctly, Flash based Websites can be more expressive and interactive.
Cool, Special Effects - Along with interactivity, Flash websites can have cool, special effects that will “wow” your visitors.

Disadvantages of having a Flash Based Website

Search Engine Optimization - Search Engine’s (e.g Google, Yahoo, etc) cannot read Websites that are built with only Flash. What this means is that when someone is searching for the products/services you offer, your website will not come up. Flash Websites may look cool and have fancy effects, but if it isn’t being viewed because it’s not showing up in Search Engines it won’t do much good.
Software is required - In order for someone to view a website with Flash, it is required that they download a plugin first. Most people have this plugin installed already, but if they don’t, they almost always leave the site instead of installing additional software or they are restricted from installing the software (e.g public computers, work computers, etc).
Usability and Accessibility - On Flash only Websites it is almost impossible for seeing impaired visitors to read the site since the Screen Readers (software that reads the text on a site and speaks it out loud) cannot read Flash. Users cannot scale the text font size. The back and forward browser buttons don’t work, unless extra code is added. Visitors cannot bookmark specific pages because when they bookmark the Website, it only bookmarks the main page. Also, users with slower/older computers may have a hard time running the website smoothly.
Mobile - Most mobile devices (e.g iPhone) cannot read flash based websites, and the ones that do often do it sluggishly. By 2014, it is predicted that mobile web usage will take over desktop usage!
Loading Times - The heavier your Flash content is, the slower the Website will load and this will cause visitors to leave. As stated before, it does’t matter how impressive your Website looks, if no one sees it, it won’t do much good.
Editing the Site – At Red Key Designs, we always build our Websites with the WordPress platform which makes editing your own site as easy as using Microsoft Word. In addition we also provide training and 24/7 access to videos on how to use WordPress. With Flash, it is nearly impossible to edit anything yourself without first owning Adobe Flash software ($699) so you’d either have to buy the software and learn how to use it to update your Website, or pay a professional to do it.
Cost - Flash only Websites in general cost more than regular Websites. Also, for a Flash based Website to not suffer from most of the disadvantages listed above, there needs to be extra coding (e.g HTML fallback code, use JavaScript to dynamically insert Flash movies, etc) which also raises costs.

If you have any additional questions or comments about this post, please use the contact form at the bottom of the page.

Advanced Promotions LLC Redesign

We at Red Key Designs are proud to announce the complete redesign of the Advanced Promotions LLC website! The redesign consisted of the entire site from the homepage to the cart checkout. The outcome of the new site has been great, but don’t take our word for it: Thoughts from the Owner of the site (From an email sent to our lead designer Dave Parker from the Co-Owner of APLLC, Garin Beam)

“I’m real excited about this, if we weren’t several states away I’d give you a high five or hip bump or something. I’m jacked about the site right now and it’s definitely something I’m going to be proud to have out there. Thanks for all your hard work and I’ll get you some stuff to work with shortly! Thanks Dave!”

Side note: Garin is one of the most awesome people to work with! The original APLLC website was completed a year ago when Red Key Designs was first established; in fact, it was one of our first projects. Since then, we have grown and learned a great amount of new knowledge and we wanted to apply it to this early project we did. The old site was lacking a good navigation system, which is of course a huge problem for an eCommerce website. So we built a brand new navigation system from the ground up that makes it much easier to find the products. Another very important aspect of an eCommerce website is the search function, so we went ahead and updated that as well so it finds products much more accurately.

APLLC works with different organizations like schools and when a new partnership is made there is many visitors heading to the website looking for the products that pertain to them. To make it as easy as possible for these visitors to end up where they want to be, we added a slider module on the homepage that clearly shows this information. For a company that “Makes Your Name Work” we wanted to express that on the new site so we really focused on delivering clear, unique typography. We employed new technologies that allowed us to use some awesome fonts and we are confident that it really boosts the overall feel of the site.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water

It is Blog Action Day 2010: Water! Water is very important and something most of us take for advantage. A picture speaks 1000 words I’ll let the visuals speak for themselves:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 1

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 2

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 3

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 4

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 5

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

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