Visiting the many golf-related Web sites while doing research for NoBogies is a continual reminder of a major Web design issue commonly seen on business Web sites: using Flash everywhere and especially ONLY using Flash. The only thing I have never figured out is WHY Web designers are doing this in the first place! Perhaps they teach them to do so in college?
I wonder how many companies realize the serious drawbacks and what an extremely poor Web experience Flash sites provide for a very large segment of the Internet-using population? Even among golfers there are bound to be many who simply can not benefit from these types of sites.
Here’s how one exceptional Web Designer and SEO I know replied to my question about whether Flash is still a bad idea:
[NOTE: Mike is the author of an exceptional Web Design SEO blog called UnstuckDigital and offers Web Design and SEO Services. We highly recommend him.]
Instead of reinventing the wheel I will share here what many others have to say about what Flash is good for and why many uses are seriously impacting the effectiveness, usability and find-ability of sites using it incorrectly:
- Why Flash Is Generally A BAD Idea For Your Company’s Web Site
- Why Flash Websites are are Really, Really Bad Idea – Huge debate there from designers who love Flash and Internet Strategists and SEOs who share the limitations [Warning: some bad language.]
- Why Flash Websites are a Bad Idea
- Flash: 99% Bad – Excellent detail on major usability issues
- Creating a More Search Engine Friendly Flash Website
- 25% of All Web Users Are Disabled
Are you starting to see a pattern here? Here is a short list of the issues covered more extensively in the excellent posts I shared above:
- Flash requires a proprietary plug-in that DOES NOT work at all on all systems and must be manually loaded on others.
- No User Accessibility on phones, many PCs, 64 bit operating systems, slower Internet connections, and those with limited bandwidth or who block Flash because they must pay for extra bandwidth.
- Administrative accessibility: can YOU edit your flash files yourself? What will you do if the person who created the Flash is not available to make changes?
- Flash is bad for SEO: Most Search Engines do NOT index flash so your site will have poor search engine placement.
If your site is primarily Flash you simply can not reach much of your intended audience. The solution for those who have already invested in a Flash site is to offer an html version of your site and ALWAYS offer a way to bypass the Flash and get to an html page.
Want to see what visitors to your site see? Turn off Flash or use FlashBlockPro. This is what I see when I visit a Web page featuring Flash:

Imagine someone seeing your site as one large image like that or a page with several smaller identical images. How long do you suppose most visitors who only see these images will stay on your site? The only thing worse than a site full of Flash is one that automatically plays music!
NEW: If you already have a Flash site, are a Flash developer or really want to use it you owe it to yourself to read The Truth about Flash Websites and SEO. Mike specifically explains:
“if your website is driven by Flash a non-Flash version should be displayed for browsers without Flash support”
I would add that you should also provide a way to exit any Flash intro and select the html version manually even if your browser DOES support Flash!
NEW: Many Web site owners THINK they really, really want a Flash site. The solution to this issue and some others is to buy them a copy of the book Don’t Make Me Think. Giving one to the decision makers is a good way to get your points across without being confrontational. I’ve heard of consultants giving copies to CEOs, CIOs, or whomever is pushing for a Flash site. Here is more information on it:
*** Don’t Make Me Think by Steven Krug *** Every person involved in the design, creation, ownership or any other aspect of any Web site should own this book. It is simple, concise, to the point, and easy enough for anyone to understand – even people with no Internet or technical background.
You can read a Sample Chapter from the book. Buying a copy of this book for every member of your Team will be the best thing any Web site owner ever did. You’ll never make obvious mistakes again if you keep this book handy! Have a CEO or Owner asking you to make one? Give them this book! [NOTE: Look for the second edition.]
What do YOU think? Let us know in the comments. We use CommentLuv and all comments are dofollow.
More Resources on Web Design and Flash:
- When Should You Have a Flash Website or Use Flash on a Web site (Jun 19, 2009)
- WheFlash and Search Engine Optimization: The Latest on How Well Google Indexes Flash (Mar 17, 2009)
- When Will Flash Become a Trend? (Mar 11, 2009)
- Seven Opinions to Avoid Flash Like the Plague While Designing Web Sites (Feb 27, 2009)
- Create Effective Search Engine Optimization Using Flash–Yes Flash (Feb 3, 2009)
- Nielsen Norman Group Report: Usability of Rich Internet Applications and Web-Based Tools: Design Guidelines Based on User Testing of 46 Flash Tools
POSTS RELATED to INCREASING CONVERSION RATES:
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- Close More Sales TODAY By Implementing This One Free Strategy
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- How to Grow Your Business In Spite of Gloomy Economic Predictions
- Audio Interview with Steve Krug, Author of Don’t Make Me Think – on Web Design and Usability
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If you’re going to use Flash on your site, you must have an HTML version that displays when Flash is enabled. It can be tempting to put in just a single line or two of HTML as your non-Flash alternative, after all, you’ve done so much work on the Flash site. But since the search engines only see the HTML, that’s what they’ll rank, and you won’t rank high with just a tiny version of your site in HTML.
If you must use Flash as your site, and you want to rank well in search engines, you need to be prepared to write your site twice – once in Flash and once in HTML.
Websites based on Flash can work fine but it depend on what you want to achieve. We’ve used Flash technology AS3 and Papervision3d and maybe we will never be on high position in SERPs but we’ve won FWA award Site of the Day and as you know it’s very prestigious award.
Flash are generally good to use, but I will agree they have some few bad negatives. I think the advantages out number the drawbacks
Watson Nji Fru´s last blog ..Secret Gold Guide: Honest Secret Gold Guide Review
Perhaps, the point is that flash design is really popular and like with all the new things eevryone wants to see it, both the designer who does the job and the customer for whom this job is done.
I agree completely that Flash is not an appropriate technology for building a website. HTML and its variants are designed for that purpose – Flash was designed as an animation tool, nothing more.
I would go even further and say that if your website’s front page depends on JavaScript to fully render (whether to load Flash or something else), you’re also in deep trouble. Millions of us use the NoScript plugin and all we see are blank spaces with little icons. Our next likely action is either the back button or the stumble thumbs-down.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi ZigPress,
I totally agree and until I finally got direct wireless that is EXACTLY what I saw because I had to limit bandwidth or HughesNet (AVOID THEM!) would make my Internet unusable.
Many have the disadvantage of believing everyone else’s life is exactly like theirs and that is far from the truth.
Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Instantly Acquire 76 High Quality Incoming Links
I agree. Flash is really bad if you are thinking about SEO and you are wishing to support as many web visitors as possible.
But Flash is really really good for online applications and corporate browser based software which is not supposed to be seen by everybody.
Another thing that Flash is good for is of course Flash Games.
Temujin@Online Browser Games´s last blog ..HTC Hero Flash Games
Twitter: @freegamesgallery
I think a huge drawback of flash is lack of support on phones and mobile devices. Adobe just announced they are going to get it done for the windows mobile platform, but still I think the blackberries and iphones are going to be a long ways off. That means all those users cannot fully access your site…
Free Games´s last blog ..Square Jump
Twitter: @saurabhsnv
I really agree with you, Flash is really bad if you are thinking about SEO and webmasters als0 don’t like flash sites.
i agree with you.flash is not appropriate technology while creating a website but still it is very popular but i think its not appropriate for seo.nice post.keep sharing.
Flash is sooo bad for web design in my opinion. Firstly because of bad search engine results, if any results at all. Then, pages load way too long. They can’t be accessed on mobile phones.
Way too many drawbacks to use flash in my opinion.
Twitter: @tanmay2346
Flash are generally good to use, but I will agree they have some few bad negatives. I think the advantages out number the drawbacks
Tanmay@Online games´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at
Twitter: @alinkbuilder
Now Google has started crawling the sites build in the Flash and i think that Google can now take the keywords from the pages which are build in flash. although they take some more time to load but there appearance is also better than the old html sites.
Thanks for the resource.
Twitter: @alinkbuilder
Its very useful info,
Thanks for the resource
Twitter: @muqtada123
Google crawler also crawls your Flash embedded clips and this is the biggest move that the one you really wants to use Flash in the website despite of reading about serious draw backs for using Flash in the website. Its a great news for such people.
flash is very good for online application but seo point of view its bad.it depend upon what type of work you are doing.well i got many key points here thanks.
java script and flash, are always an issue when talking about SEO. i hope to see that changed in the future.
I personally stare clear of flash. I think unless you are a very competent user of flash then its probably not worth using it. It does have a few things that can trip websites up for novices designers.
Ana @ Crayola Glow Dome´s last blog ..Crayola Glow Station
Twitter: @alinkbuilder
yes this is true and i think flash website is not good for seo point of view.because i have heard that Google generally don’t crawl the flash pages.
Come on! silver light is picking up. Forget about the flash and enter a new world with fun. Try few things in WPF and silverlight they are actually verygood
GridView Edit´s last blog ..WPF TreeView Binding With Relational Dataset
is there such thing as ALT tags (search engine readable description for images) for flash movies so it can be search engine friendly?
Jan@Primary Work at Home´s last blog ..New video for Primary work at Home
well we cant say flash is not good it depend upon your work.if you are doing seo than flash is not good because crawler doesn’t crawl the flash pages but on the other side it make the site attractive.
monikaSEO@Bingo Hall´s last blog ..Bingo Chat Phrases
Twitter: @amitbarfa
I have read on google that the search engine bots have started crawling the Flash so for the SEO we can also optimize the flash sites.
Thanks for the info.
Twitter: @muqtada123
But still it is advisable that you should use only 15 to 20 percent flash for your website otherwise its a new thing we came to know that Google is indexing flash scripts so we should only try some of that not fully depend on that. Right
Flash can look good but often creates more problems then it solves. People who are not web savy can get confused by flash and will just leave your site. This is not a good thing if you do business online. You generally want people to stay on your site as opposed to leaving immediately.
info that u have given in this blog is really impressive..Iam very happy to visit ur blog
Watch lates movies online or Download movies for FREE in HD at http://www.onlinemoviehouse.com ….. Best Quality
Twitter: @muqtada123
Oh, it needs a high speed internet, i cannot watch even a clip in my internet speed situation, but anyways your link is useful
well just the fact that search engines do not pick up text in flash is one reason to not use flash, although i have been told you can write a script now that sends your data to the engines right within the swf file, but i could be wrong
Twitter: @muqtada123
That is why i never suggest flash for my website.
Twitter: @saurabhsnv
In my opinion flash is good to attract visitors but its not good for crawlers points of view.Flash also takes high speed internet as well.
I never use flash for my site because not everyone have a high speed Internet connection. By the way, it’s not SEO friendly
Just my thought. Cheers everyone. Great topic to share 

Aaron@Malaysia web design´s last blog ..Top 5 reasons to avoid cheap Web Design Services
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