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ddzc 07-21-2008 07:44 PM

Flash - Bad Idea?
 
Hi all,

I was going to build an all flash site here but do you believe this will cause less visitors/revenue due to compatibility issues? I was going to change my mind and do it all html for faster response times and higher traffic ratio b/c they wont have to install flash. I'll be selling services on the site and it will be towards IT/tech savvy people (Highly doubt any of them will be running 56k). I'm more worried about the indexing.

What are your thoughts?

xXx DOMAINER xXx 07-21-2008 07:48 PM

flash is not search engine friendly, stick to html.. or php

shockie 07-21-2008 07:59 PM

avoid using flash for web designing if possible, but if you absolutely have to then use something like swfobject to embed flash files because there's still a good chunk of people (and public terminals) that lack flash players on their browsers.

nasaboy007 07-21-2008 08:12 PM

as mentioned, flash is not at all search engine friendly. there are also a lot of people who don't have flash installed or others who simply keep it disabled. if you have your heart set on having a flash website, i suggest you try to make it so that maybe only parts of it are in flash (such as header, navbar, etc) but the content be in html. php would make it all easy.

hyped 07-21-2008 08:14 PM

Google and Yahoo can now apparently index flash sites (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/pos...lash-sites.html)

I would not recommend it, though. I've always hated flash sites for one reason or another. One major reason to hate them is the fact that you can't just copy paste a url and send it to a friend if the url never changes.

I'm pretty sure that it would cost you more to have a flash site developed anyway.

Best of luck!

shockie 07-21-2008 08:50 PM

to be more accurate, flash files are only getting partially indexed and .flvs are exempt from this completely.

homebuyer 07-21-2008 09:50 PM

iPhone and Others
 
Remember to look at how a flash site looks on the iPhone, Blackberry Bold (when it comes out), the Samsung Instinct, and other near like kind phones that show full .com websites before committing to putting flash on your site.

Xavier_3D 07-21-2008 10:04 PM

Well don't go for complete Flash. Check mine - www.xyber3dstudios.com - NO ADVERTISING I PROMISE.

I made it all flash, but I added some chunk to my Footer, to actually make it indexable. Go for Flash if you want creativity, but as people already mentioned not all Flash.!

trcgood 07-22-2008 02:57 AM

I stick to html too.

enlytend 07-22-2008 04:53 AM

As others pointed out, Flash is now being indexed better than it used to be...

But I'd avoid an all-flash site because most of them are a poor visitor experience , especially for anyone who just wants to go to your site and find what they need. Tech people will probably be your LEAST patient visitors ... and might be running Firefox with the Flashblock extension besides.

Unless there's real content in the flash (like a demo or tutorial), just say no.

weblord 07-22-2008 05:01 AM

flash is all good for headers, that's just about it but don't over do it.

Originally Posted by ddzc
Hi all,

I was going to build an all flash site here but do you believe this will cause less visitors/revenue due to compatibility issues? I was going to change my mind and do it all html for faster response times and higher traffic ratio b/c they wont have to install flash. I'll be selling services on the site and it will be towards IT/tech savvy people (Highly doubt any of them will be running 56k). I'm more worried about the indexing.

What are your thoughts?


tinner666 07-22-2008 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by Xavier_3D
Well don't go for complete Flash. Check mine - www.xyber3dstudios.com - NO ADVERTISING I PROMISE.

I made it all flash, but I added some chunk to my Footer, to actually make it indexable. Go for Flash if you want creativity, but as people already mentioned not all Flash.!



Your site won't load for me. Maybe you have too much flash. I dunno.

dbkooper 07-22-2008 05:33 PM

In the past, flash websites means death in SEO. However, adobe recently developed something to help search engines index the flash content. I think both google and yahoo are working towards better flash site indexing

gjvblack 07-22-2008 08:57 PM

Since computers today are being upgraded and are fast (in some ways with and without vista), i would say flash is good, but too much will kill your visitor loading patience, computers are fast but some are still on dial-up.

Xavier_3D 07-22-2008 09:15 PM

Originally Posted by tinner666
Your site won't load for me. Maybe you have too much flash. I dunno.



It was a Server Error. The flash content is hardly 150 Kb. Takes about 3 Seconds over a 56 K Connection. Please check now.

Phaethon 07-22-2008 10:22 PM

Flash is nice and I personally like using it, but not to build websites. Realistically there are too many compatibility issues and search engine issues for it to be beneficial to use. If you do decide using it, I'd recommend offering a non-flash version of your site too.

bionichead 07-23-2008 07:25 AM

Flash is fun. I like it for experiments and amusing myself. For everything else, it is html/php.

RTM 07-23-2008 09:16 PM

Flash pages are OK as long as they load in sub 0.05s ... anything extremely long (say 0.25s to load is too long)... yes, I know, a bit extreme, but that's the way it is...

When I see preloader for more than .5s loading a page, I instantly hit back... and stats show that many visitors behave in a similar way.

That being said, flash *components* that are properly embedded in an xHTML compliant page can be code.. (witness YouTube and others)....

But...a full Flash site ? blech. Both for users and SEO.... (which go together)...

Just my $0.02.

Rob

lux13 07-31-2008 12:03 PM

some of our clients do not want that the sites have flash, for not to lose speed and security.

Barrucadu 07-31-2008 02:29 PM

Definitely do not go for a full Flash site - if you do, you more or less exclude everyone using Linux due to Adobe providing a rather unstable crash-prone Flash plugin for us.

Phoebe_ 07-31-2008 08:34 PM

Flash is nice coz it gives drama to the site.. but it won't do good in SE.

marcusofplymout 08-02-2008 06:33 PM

Xavier, i had a look at your site - just a bit of feedback - it took around 10 secs (my connection is 2 meg) to load.

chrispalko 08-02-2008 06:53 PM

Personally, I advise all my clients against Flash (yet, so many think it's the coolest thing ever). I find it a bit annoying in headers (unless it's a short or subtle animation), but I've seen some really nice navigations using Flash.

Entire sites using flash, I don't even waste my time on. I think flash sites are good for showing your graphic design capabilities, but not so much web design.

Either way, if you decide to go entirely flash, try not to make it take too long to download or too overbearing with animations.

digitalmoney 08-03-2008 05:05 AM

I wouldn't do an all flash site for several reasons:

- Takes a while to load (depending...)

- It's to busy - make your site clean and simple

- Not search engine friendly

- Takes longer time to develop

Your website should have 1 purpose and 1 purpose only. Not to entertain, not to look nice, but to simply make you money.

priyakochin 08-03-2008 05:08 AM

In seo concept flash is not recommended.


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