On websites, Flash can be used to create very effective presentations – such as for product introductions, demonstrations and portfolios. And, when used with restraint, they can make web pages visually more attractive and interesting.
Considerations
1. Most people surf the web looking for information, not eye candy or entertainment.
2. The most basic fundamentals of a browser, such as the back button, scrolling, bookmarking and printing do not work when entire websites are created in Flash.
3. Flash animations, which simply animate text or images and serve no purpose, can be annoying to website visitors.
4. Many people dislike hearing music or sound on websites.
5. Some people immediately leave a site which starts with just a Flash animation or, even worse, a loading bar.
6. Some people don't like all Flash websites because they take too long to download.
7. Perhaps the most important reason Flash should not be used to build an entire website, for an intro or to present important content is because the text contained in a Flash animation cannot be indexed by search engines. (Google does not display Flash content in it's results.) Therefore, a site built entirely in Flash will have difficulty in achieving a high search engine ranking. This problem cannot be overcome by putting keywords in the META tags or inside HTML comment tags.
8. Furthermore, search engines cannot follow any hyperlinks within Flash animations and, therefore, will not be able to index those pages even if they are not in Flash.
9. Visually impaired users may not be able to read the text in a Flash animation. Enlarging the text in a web browser will have no effect.
Recommendations
1. Flash is best used for presentations within windows on pages of a website rather than for the entire website. This way, you have all the advantages of Flash without sacrificing the usability, accessibility and indexing of your site.
2. Give the Flash animation a purpose and make it visually interesting.
3. Keep the file size small.
You will find many Flash animations and presentations on this site.
