Professional Flash Design (UK)
Flash design that stands out from the
clutter
Go straight to our Flash
web design company portfolio for work samples, or read
on to learn about some of the advantages and disadvantages
of using Flash on your website.
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Interested in our Flash design services? email
us or call our Bristol office on:
(0117)
9300222 |
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| What Is Flash? |
Macromedia Flash is a powerful and versatile
tool for designing and delivering low-bandwidth animations,
presentations and web sites.
It can be used to create entire websites or to add interactive
elements to standard HTML web sites.
It enables Flash web designers to incorporate sound, movement
and interactivity - and can be a great way to add visual flair
to a site. |
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| Do I Need A Flash
website? |
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This decision should be based primarily on your company’s target audience.
As a tool for showcasing media products, Flash is second to
none - but the vast majority of websites simply do not benefit
from using it. Flash is ideally suited towards media-rich
presentations or sequences that require interactivity. However,
don't just choose to use it for the sake of it!
There are very few major companies that embrace the software
to it’s full potential. Those that do, are either in
the entertainment industry, or are companies such as Nike,
and Volkswagen who already have a secure brand and whose audiences
expect technological glamour.
It is worth bearing in mind that the web is not intrinsically
a ‘leisure’ environment. The majority of web surfers
are primarily concerned about getting quality information,
fast, and on the whole are not looking for eye candy.
The user should be your main concern throughout the decision
process. |
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| The Advantages Of Flash |
The main advantage of Flash is that is that it
can enhance visitor experience - and provide elements (such
as animation, sound and interactivity) that cannot be so easily
achieved with an HTML website.
The software provides designers with a great deal of control
over the final product, and enables the creation of features
and environments that are difficult or impossible to reproduce
in a static web site.
All the major web browsers now ship with a flash plugin already
installed, and so a growing number of computers are equipped
to view these files. Estimates vary on the percentage of web
users whose computers have the plugin - some surveys suggest
that as many as 85% of web users can view flash content.
Despite popular belief, Flash websites can
be built and optimised to have relatively small file sizes and
therefore fast download times. |
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| The Disadvantages Of Flash |
The main disadvantage of Flash is that the content
is not currently indexed by search engines. This makes websites
built entirely in Flash a risky business prospect for a new
or small company who is looking to grow their online presence
through the search engines.
A site built entirely in Flash will have difficulty in achieving
a high search engine ranking - even with search engine optimisation.
Some search engines (particularly Altavista.com) are making
moves towards including more multimedia content within their
results - but at this stage, the major player Google.com does
not display Flash content in it's results.
Plugin
Every Flash website requires a plugin to view it. Even with
the generous 85% estimation, that's still 15% of potential customers
who will not be able to view the site without downloading the
plugin. Many will simply not bother.
Download Times
Although download times can be small, the fact that a (sometimes
bulky) file has to be downloaded, means that site visitors must
commit to your site before they know whether they will like
it. Often they'll choose to move on - especially on dial-up
internet connections.
The
Annoyance Factor
Used inappropriately, Flash design has an amazing ability to
be a serious annoyance to website visitors - and this explains
much of it’s bad press over the years.
Although this is the fault of the designer rather than the software,
there is certainly a section of people who will hit their back
button at the slightest glimpse of a loading bar or a intro
animation. |
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| The Professional Use Of Flash |
At Clear Design UK, our designers have seen more
than their fair share of bad Flash design to know that just
because a button spins, whirrs, glows and dances… that
doesn't make it good.
An effective design solution uses its visual form to enhance
its function - not detract from it - and we work to this philosophy
of moderation whenever our Flash designers produce such sites.
These three examples from our web
design portfolio, illustrate our methods of (and justifications
for) using the software:
Panoramic
Pictures (UK)
Flash was the perfect option for this film company's website
- and this is an excellent example of a company who had a justified
reason for using the software. There simply is no way that a
static web site could have produced the same cinematic feel.
Little
Song Films (UK)
Flash design elements have been incorporated into a static HTML
page on this site - with animations being used to enhance the
feel and personality of the project.
Clear
Design UK
Flash was originally the perfect tool to help us convey our
design style, and to showcase our web design portfolio.
Knowing the limitations of this type of website in the search
engines however, we have now opted for an HTML version instead. |
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