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July 9, 2006

Web Design – Yes, Flash is Still a Viable Option

SEO experts and web designers have been bothered by Flash websites since their conception due to the fact that it creates several problems in the standard efforts to search engine optimize a website.

However, as of April of this year, that is no longer true. It is now becoming possible to use more traditional SEO techniques with a Flash website. The only struggle is to overcome the most recent problem with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, which contains a code that will commonly prevent Flash web pages from functioning properly.

This came at a bad time for the reputation of Flash, since it was finally coming back “in” with the SEO crowd, and now it is struggling once more with the Internet Explorer users.

However, it turns out that it isn’t the fault of Flash itself that so many websites aren’t functioning on the latest Internet Explorer version. It seems that with so many WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) website design softwares out there, there are invariably Flash sites that simply won’t be programmed appropriately.

When properly programmed, Flash is great for:

• Creating a clean and professional design
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Accessibility, no matter the computer type and software
• Code validation

Flash is best used in places where complex content needs to be presented, as it allows the designer to fit more into a limited amount of space without sacrificing the design of the site itself.

It is important to know, though, that even the biggest Flash advocates agree that an entire website can’t be built entirely on Flash. This is because it lacks page structure. Therefore, it is recommended that you first design an HTML site, and then break your Flash into pieces that can be installed into each page. This provides the same professional look, without the programming issues.

Mark.

Posted by Mark at July 9, 2006 10:52 AM