DaveJays Blog

Putting Flash in its Place

MAY 8th 2008 • 1 Comments

One of the common questions that I receive from potential clients is whether or not I do Flash. The answer is always no. It's not because I hate Flash, but because I've never had or seen a use for it. So as a result, I never learned it. So I'd like to explain my philosophy when it comes to Flash on the web. I won't talk about horrible Flash practices such as animating every element on the page as it builds in and use that as an excuse to boycott the technology. Flash done well can be very useful.

The "Wow Factor" Myth

A site is not driven by a "wow factor" it's been proven time and time again that no matter how amazing a design is, the content is what reels people in. If someone is going to be "wowed", it should be because of how the design contributes to the presentation of the content. If the presentation of the content can be enhanced by Flash, then by all means, go for it! But presentation should only be considered after the content has been considered, otherwise the presentation will only get in the way. Flash is not a fundamental technology like HTML is, it's a presentational technology and should be approached as such. The problem is that Flash tries to bite off more than it needs to and handle all content, presentation, and scripting.

JQuery and Scriptaculous - Great Flash Alternatives

JQuery and Scriptaculous are two javascript libraries that empower users with tools that mimic flash in many ways, and often provide an even better user experience than flash ever could. I finally started using jQuery about a month ago and I've been amazed at what it's empowered me to do. I highly recommend looking into these technologies if you haven't already. They have several advantages over Flash.

jQuery and Scriptaculous are much easier to design so that they break down gracefully if javascript becomes unavailable for whatever reason. It works in combination with html and css rather than against them as Flash does. It's also a much lighter solution, and far easier to set up.

Challenges Faced When Using Flash

You may have seen the excellent Flash Website Flowchart for determining whether a site should be 100% Flash or not. But even if you choose not to use 100% Flash, there are particular challenges that have to be faced when using any amount of Flash at all.

1. Attention span of audience

Keeping your audience invested in your site's content for longer than 1 minute has always been a problem. The internet is a very fast paced environment where the attention span for a website is measured in seconds. An old BBC article describes internet users as having the attention span of a goldfish - about 9 seconds. So if a flash file needs to load in, or if there are a lot of animations taking place, those are precious seconds that may be lost from the total time a user is willing to invest in the site.

2. Accessibility

Flash presents accessibility problems for many mobile devices, as well as those with disabilities who need special attention. Flash is not inherently inaccessible though. Adobe has a list of accessibility best practices, and I found an excellent example of a flash file that's scaleable. But such examples seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Maintaining accessibility with Flash is challenging, and potentially expensive.

3. Usability

As old Uncle Ben used to say, "With great power, comes great responsibility" - and that is most definitely true in regards to Flash. Flash provides the ability to rethink and customize almost every aspect of the way we interact with a site. This can greatly aid usability in some cases, but it can also greatly hinder it as well by removing the user from what they're familiar with and creating confusion.

3. SEO

Search Engine Optimization has long been problem for Flash, the inability for the content to be properly indexed by Google. There are ways of providing some level of SEO for Flash content. But it can still suffer from a lack of structural elements that help make the content semantic and organized. And unstructured content is hard for Google to make sense of, and if Google can't make sense of it, it's hard for anyone to know you exist

4. CPU Demands of Flash

I deal with this first hand very often with my iPhone and being unable to view a website because a key portion of the site relies solely on Flash. It's been reported that due to Flash's high demand on the CPU of the computer, it's "too slow to be useful" on the iPhone. Whether that comment is warranted or not, Flash's demand on the CPU is a valid concern, even for desktop computers.

To Sum Up

Flash is not all bad, certain web applications can be greatly enhanced with the technology, and it's the ruler of embedding video content on a page. But for most cases, where the intent is to convey a message or an idea, Flash is usually overkill, and it has some nasty side effects on the user experience. At least in my experience, that's how I see it.

posted in: Design | Development | Internet |