Simply put: Flash will not replace well-designed web sites based on html/css. To elaborate:

Saw this gentleman’s article on Technorati, and the title caught my attention.

Adobe recently announced that Flash and related files are going to be open source. This means that pretty much anyone can write and develop a program to author flash files. So what? This changes nothing.

My honest opinion is that the argument of Flash taking over the standard web page is moot. There are practical, well executed uses of flash, and there are practical, well executed uses of any of the other technologies mentioned. However, it seems that there are at least as many poor uses of each.

Flash has it’s place: Interactive, colorful, design-rich web applications, games, demontrations, advertisements, web intros, and so on. The key is that flash files use up bandwidth and computing power, and if used when not needed, can actually harm the user experience and usability. Flash files are also not indexed in search engines, which means that in order to have the page relevant on the web, the designer/developer must include additional content indicating what is contained in the flash movie/video. If the entire site is in flash… then no search results.

AJAX has simliar problems, and should be used when appropriate. The large-content AJAX staple “iframe” won’t be indexed, and users without javascript enabled (many office computers, terminals especially) cannot use the AJAX content at all. This means that developers must write code twice: Once for the general population, and again for those that can’t use the technology. Either that, or they stand to lose 1 out of 10 potential users of their software.

I hate flash. I hate how easy it is to make a really ugly navigation menu in flash. I hate how easy it is for anyone who … Let me interrupt myself here. I hate that because I have a web page open in the background that has a flash movie running, my browser just shut down, and I lost two sentences that I wrote because of it. I hate that 90% of flash applications could have been done better, faster, and cleaner using web standards, and without alienating those with slow computers, or those who can’t install flash at their office.

But just remember: I love a great looking flash-based website. Just a random search on google found me this site: http://www.singularitydesign.com/ . Very well done. The flash file is only 202K, which is much smaller than even the Yahoo! homepage. The content is clean, and flash is used to show off how flashy this particular web design company can make your site look.

Simply put: Flash will not replace well-designed web sites based on html/css.

Tags: ajax, css, flash, html