There are a lot of Flash Designers in the world today, and it is a certainty that some of them have blogs, and although pages containing Flash might look fantastic, does it really help a blog or hinder it?
Flash is a great tool, and has many uses from simple animation through to complex cross platform desktop and web applications. But it also can be the sore thumb of content design. Many people rush to put Flash elements on their site, and some even decide to create the whole site in Flash, but rarely does anyone take into consideration that content that is contained within Flash is not indexed by search engines and worst of all is usually not compatible with RSS or ATOM feeds.
So what is the attraction that people have for putting massive amounts of Flash on their page?
Not only does Flash not get indexed, but depending on the content, you may be hurting your revenue line just from the time it takes to load your page. Valuable seconds could be lost in click conversions and you'll end up watching the amount you earn from pay-per-click affiliate programs spiral out of control to only crash and burn.
Here are some tips if you are thinkg of using Flash on your Blog:
1. Only use small amounts of Flash on any of your pages.
Simple areas to add Flash to could be your navigation, header content of your page or even footer. Too much Flash will hurt you loading times and and your revenue. Also make sure that if you add a Flash navigation system you also add a html link for each area of navigation to another part of your site (ie footer) so that it will be indexed correctly by search engines.
2. Don't make your blog totally reliant on Flash.
By making your page reliant on Flash you may be making your user frustrated by having to download the plugin to view your content. Even worse is if you have some sort of animation or time consuming element that causes people to wait until your content appears, this is like blog kryptonite.
3. Flash is not good for compatibility.
Everyone has a different computer (unless you are on a recent Mac system) and configurations of some machines are still a little behind the times in terms of computing power. Flash can cause a heavy load on a persons CPU and slow down their system if it is excessive on animation elements. People will ignore your site if it slows down their computer, and even worse they may never visit it again even if they upgrade.
4. People like things that are good looking, but Flash is not the only answer.
Don't forget the fantastic ability of CSS, XHTML and PHP, although they may be harder for you to work with, in the end your site can look and feel like Flash but without the hassles and download times and also can be read directly by web robots and spiders to index your site faster and more efficently.
5. Take Flash with a grain of salt.
If you have decided to use Flash elements on your blog then make sure you do a little research into what you want before you create anything. It helps to keep you on target with matching Flash to your already existing content and to help guide the user through your site. If you read anything on the web about Flash then read a usability guide for both content creation and navigation, it will help you make your site seamless.
So if you are adding Flash to your site in anyway, be mindful of how and why you are using it and take into consideration the points above, they should help save you from tearing your hair out because of lost revenue or a part of your userbase.
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