Flash Websites & Applications

Flash movies are basically websites that are partly or entirely rendered using a third party plug-in called the Adobe Flash Player. This allows your website to include animation, special effects, video and audio, whilst maintaining a consistent appearance across multiple browsers and operating system platforms.

Why Flash and when to use it?

Flash websites are more suitable for commercial websites to promote their products with strong use of imagery and letting the brand speak for itself whilst using subtle yet effective animation.

Another great use of Flash is for producing online applications such as the Room Planner application shown right. Applications built in Flash allows much more interactivity that is not possible using plain HTML.

The Facts about Flash

• Flash is installed on 99% of all Internet enabled computer systems, 14% more than Java.
• Gain a consistent appearance across all browsers and operating system platforms.

The Myths about Flash

• "Flash is not accessible!" Actually in some ways it can be more accessible than HTML, for example a Flash websites can dynamically change size to the users screen resolution, users with a screen magnifier will see crisp text when zooming in due to Flash being a Vector based program.
• "Well some audio browsers cannot read text within a Flash Movie". Users with old Screen Readers will have JavaScript and Flash disabled due to the problems they course; this is where the alternative content will be read by the Screen Reader, we always provide alternative content for Flash and JavaScript.
• "Flash websites do not rank well in Search Engines!". Yes this is true, however if done professionally it will rank as good as any website. A Flash website must display alternative content for accessibility reasons, and thankfully this is the information the search engine will use.