Flash or not?

[ortel]

I have seen a big explosion of hosting companies putting flash
on their main site. Do people really enjoy a jumping toolbar?

I have always fallen much more towards the straight text to
let people make the choice or not.

are there any designers out there that have real results behind
putting up a flashy front page?

~James

[festivehosting]

I have seen a big explosion of hosting companies putting flash
on their main site. Do people really enjoy a jumping toolbar?

I have always fallen much more towards the straight text to
let people make the choice or not.

are there any designers out there that have real results behind
putting up a flashy front page?

~James

Flash definately grabs your attention, but I agree that it can get to the point of being annoying.

[etechsupport]

Flash can explore highly complex data in innovative ways, you should do homework by Tracking results closely others, both Flash- and non-Flash -based sites and validate whatever decision you make it, it is correct.

[hawaiibeemer]

Even though there are lots of broadband ISPs out there, but the majority of people is still using dial-up. In my opinion, flash is not really intended for dial-up users.

I agree with the previous post that they are cool and attractive, but too many flash animations could be very distracting.

My two cents :)

[host4life]

It's a love/hate thing. Flash for me is a big turn-off, but others love it. First impressions often last and a lot depends on your target market.

[Runtime]

Flash is good, but I have the sense that it is over used.
There are places where Flash is the perfect solution. Designer sites, sites that want to demonstrate certain products or hotels.

There are places where it simply does not match the design, and instead making it better, it makes it ugly / heavy.

[hosting]

Hey folks,

One more thing which is very important now a days.. Which is search engine optimized web site.

Flash websites are not search engine friendly.

There are always pros-cons of everything. Flash is good for look & feel, on the other hand, it takes time to load, its not search engine friendly. So choice is yours..

~Happy Hosting

[PompeyDave]

I have toned down my use of Flash because of this and user-functionality reasons. I started out designing in Flash and still love it however I have used fewer and fewer animations on my websites following feedback that what customers/visitors prioritise is information above all else. Ask yourself an honest question: How does my animation help the visitor perform a specific function?

Dave Jordan
Web developer
www.sabonetesolange.co.uk

[GuardianServe]

Hi all,

I find easy to read, well placed flash to be attractive and sometimes useful, but massive flash pages that take any more than 5 seconds to load will in my opinion only turn people away.

[leocharre]

I used to do flash. People paid well for it. I think I got pretty good at it. Made some streaming apps for musicians etc.
Thing is, search robots cannot index the content.
Forget flash if you're promoting a real business that needs to be found online.