100% Flash Websites are just Not Good for Business

There are a number of reasons for this which I have listed below. Guess what though? There are exceptions to the rule and if after you have heard my thoughts in this area and you still want to own a site that is 100% flash then I wish you the best of luck.

And certainly, there are still some markets where this can make sense from a commercial point of view - but we believe the list is shrinking and at The Web Showroom we do not build 100% flash websites. Don't get me wrong though - I love flash and recommend the use of small amounts of flash throughout your site - just don't build a site in Flash only.

In general, Flash is still the best platform on the web for delivering carefully crafted and heavily designed sites. The images and words on a flash site will appear exactly the same on each and every page and they will look great - pixel perfect design. The site itself will feel nice and will have a quality feel (if it is well-designed and built).

You need to ask yourself though - are the benefits in the paragraph above enough to outweigh the disadvantages below? Remember that by using HTML/CSS it is still more than possible to present a very well designed website that performs excellently on a wide range of browsers. Most users of websites are not design junkies, and whilst they will care about your image as a company - they will also judge you on a number of other things - and it is in these areas that Flash can let you down.

1. Search Engines
Ten years ago the web was not a very competitive place. It was easy to get your site noticed. This is simply not the case anymore. Like it or not, performing well in search engines (like Google) is vitally important in getting people to your site. Truth is that Flash-based sites do not perform well in Google. Search Engines find it very hard to see into a Flash site and index the keywords and subjects a site deals with. If you intend to operate a 100% flash site please make sure that Search Engine results are not important to you.

2. Bookmarking and site navigation
Most people visiting your site will have a fair bit of experience in using websites and they will have a lot of assumptions about the best way to get around a site. Flash sites often challenge these assumptions and this can leave site visitors feeling confused or annoyed. For instance, if a user wants to bookmark a page deep within a flash site, they cannot. A bookmark will simply return the user to the homepage of the website rather than the page they intended to bookmark.

3. Site statistics
The issues stated above mean that with a 100% flash website you will not be able to determine what users are doing on your website with any great level of detail. As the web gets more competitive this is becoming critical to understanding where your site is failing and where it is succeeding.

4. General usability issues
Many flash sites restrict the ability for the visually impaired to increase font sizes, for users to copy and paste contact information and for various other usability standards that a modern web user takes for granted. In our view you need a compelling reason to make your website harder to use.

5. Budget
A great looking flash site with a lot of functionality will generally cost more to build than a standard website. On top of this you will generally need to pay for each and every change made to your website in the future. Content management tools are not generally available to owners of Flash websites.
Our recommendation is to get the best of both worlds by having a standard HTML/CSS website built and then simply using Flash in designated areas for added impact. This can include using Flash for page banners and buttons and other site areas demanding a more interactive / visual approach.