To Flash or Not to Flash

Before deciding whether to use or not use Macromedia Flash as your main development tool, analyze your main purpose of your website. In the late 1990's, Flash based websites can be found throughout the Internet. Typically, the website would have a "splash" page with Flash animation. The websites did not have any other purpose than to showcase the latest web tool, and show that you can have animated graphics on the Internet. Web developers and site owners did not know that using Flash had consequences.

Today, websites purposes go beyond showing what you can do with an animated page. Content-based websites are very common, and e-commerce sites continue to grow in numbers. Because of the fact that Flash pages are graphic based, search engine spiders are unable read Flash commands and unable to follow the links/navigations created in Flash. Even if you only have flash animation as your entry page, search engine spiders are unable to move beyond the splash page to index the rest of your site. Basically, it is possible for your website to be invisible in the eyes of search engines if your site is fully Flash based. For content-based websites, Flash is a poor choice.

I think Macromedia Flash is a great secondary tool to add animation and graphics to a website, but to have it as a main tool to develop a website is a poor choice in most cases. For a website that requires a lot interactivity with graphics and animation, Flash is a great tool. Flash is the right choice for developing online tutorials that require user to interact graphically. Typically, animated tutorials are part of a larger website instead of a site on its own. Therefore, I recommend that you use Flash sparingly, use it to enhance your site, but don't use it as a main development tool. Instead, use HTML for the basis of your website and allow search engine spiders to easily index your content.