Iain Young

Hi folks,

I've been thinking of revamping the photo section of my website (and maybe the whole thing), and have been browsing around the web looking for inspiration.

Looking at the web template websites out there, it seems that a very large number of them are based almost solely on flash to deliver the content. I've always steered away from this as it means that people who don't have flash installed cannot view your website, however I wondered what the web designers out there thought about it. Is flash now widespread enough that you can reasonably rely on people having it installed?

Cheers,
Iain

kilo_4que

not only that but templates look crappy. For some reasno you can tell a mile off its a template but yes for certain ideas they are good.

JackClark

I'm most likely going to use this flash gallery, does what it says on the tin
http://www.airtightinteractive.com/simpleviewer/

SJ_Skyline

Iain, one word - NO!!! Don't do it.

As you say, people that don't have flash installed can't see your gallery. People with mobile devices most likely won't be able to see your gallery. Flash is not an accessible technology.

Flash should only be used as an add-on and never ever used to deliver core content.

Don't just take my word for it, the guys on here that are worth their salt should agree with me (and probably articulate it better!)

Iain Young

Thanks for confirming what I was thinking. It just seemed strange that when browsing around for ideas, almost all of the templates etc out there seemed to be based solely on flash, suggesting that it's installation base was much higher than I thought.

I'm still going to stick with good old html though

spectrum48k

Flash installed user base is 77% across all browsers according to Macromedia. The flash player will detect whether or not the user has flash player present and offer to install it.

I'm a purist and will always prefer html, but there IS a time and a place for Flash. Whether thats your application, is down to you.

You might want to play around and produce a flash version, just for the experience. You and your users may even prefer it.

kilo_4que

similar to me, I very rarely use flash. Only when a client requests that they want some mild flash then ill add some to a central image.

SlimJ_2005

I've only just started looking into Flash and playing with the simple moving stuff around the screen so wouldn't know how to develop something completely in Flash as yet.

To be honest though, I rarely like websites completely made in flash, I find them a chore especially when most of what the designer has done could've been done quicker in HTML. I don't mind sites with a little flash in them, but nothing over the top. Too much and I tend to leave before the sites even loaded.

Not saying Flash is a bad thing, it's great for showing off new products (Porsche 911 Turbo / Ford ST for example), I just think its not good for delivering content.

James

RussBoy

I run an SEO consultancy (Search Engine Optimisation) and would again advise against the use of Flash if you want a decent chance of a decent search engine ranking. You can have a small flash plug in (if you have to) but personally I don't like it from a style point of view either...


Russ

Iain Young

Html it is then

kilo_4que

well said