Website Design - Flash Based or Simple?

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rwright

New member
What do you all think about Flash based websites? If you had a fair budget for building a detailing website, would you stick to a simple site? Even if it was simple to navigate? Please provide some feedback.

Thanks
 
At one time, I would have said clean and simple because Flash sucked on slower connection speeds. Now days most computers, tablets, and many phones can handle Flash just fine. If I ever get a nice site set up, it will be Flash based because of the coolness and shock factor. A killer website with lots of eye candy will set you apart..at least in my opinion. Many like a simple page as well, so maybe offer a nonflash version too?
 
1 vote for 'simple' instead of flash.

personal preference I guess. but regardless of detailing sites I sometimes get annoyed at the flash animation when I visit some sites (I realize this is terribly inpatient but I can't be alone in this regard)
 
My idea does not include lots of animation. It will consist of a few animated "buttons" for the links. The background will most likely remain constant, nothing real busy on the page. I just don't want to be a run of the mill click link-change page or click link-drop down menu etc. Just enough activity to make a person wonder what's going to happen when I click here. I am considering something additional for smart phone users so they don't use a lot of bandwidth.
 
One thing to think about Richard is that fact that Apple products don't support flash and more then likely never will...

That being said a good web designer can use other things to create a great looking and user friendly site. One of my big pet peeves when it comes to web design is that some sites are very big and flashy but are not user friendly or intuitive. So you need to find a good balance. Another thing to think about is content. This is huge because you can have a great looking site but your content has to be there to keep people interested and informed. We have been in the middle of a website re-design for a year now and the people in charge can't seem to understand this or make it work. ...
 
rwright said:
My idea does not include lots of animation. It will consist of a few animated "buttons" for the links. The background will most likely remain constant, nothing real busy on the page. I just don't want to be a run of the mill click link-change page or click link-drop down menu etc. Just enough activity to make a person wonder what's going to happen when I click here. I am considering something additional for smart phone users so they don't use a lot of bandwidth.
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rwright,

NO flash. While virtually all computers and many mobile phones and tablets support Flash, there is two HUGE exception - iPhones and iPads. And they are used for web browsing more than any other mobile device. Some references:
iPad Generates 1% Of Global Internet Traffic - Internet - Traffic reporting/monitoring - Informationweek
97 Percent of Tablet Internet Traffic Comes From iPad | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

I went through this issue trying to find a set of tools to set up my weather website (here's the non-public, beta version: BellevueWAWeather.com - Home) where the website would have some bling that would be usable on ALL devices. For example, I'm using Meteovigilia animated gifs and Weather Underground animated radar maps that are attractive, relatively simple, and load reasonably fast.

As another example of non-Flash bling, here are a set of animated weather gauges that have NO flash: wilmslow astro weather. (Mouse over the gauges to see what happens.) The upside of these that they have nice visuals (for a weather gauge) that run on all websites. The downside is that they load VERY slowly. If this was flash-based, it would probably be much worse.

IMO, a good website (almost any website) should look good, display well on any device, and load quickly. That means NO Flash.

Regards,

Dan.
 
I've seen a few of websites that have the nice background, the nice pictures, some music playing, and to them it probably looked really good. But to me it was just plain cheesy. This one guy had nickleback playing in the background of his photography website, I just could not wait to shut my speakers off... What looks good to you may not look good to everyone else. Don't overkill it.
 
Agreed, no Flash. For two reasons:

- iPads and iPhones
- HTML 5 does similar and better animation.

Be sure to let us see the new site when it is done!
 
davidmelis said:
Agreed, no Flash. For two reasons:

- iPads and iPhones
- HTML 5 does similar and better animation.

Be sure to let us see the new site when it is done!
Click to expand...

I strongly encourage you to go to HTML 5 now instead of flash. HTML 5 is a standard and flash isn't and in my opinion once HTML 5 has a wider use, flash will start dying off.
 
So it appears more people are interested in some animation and for it to be HTML5 based. Trust me when I say this will not be over the top animation, it will be clean, and simple. I have no plans of incorporating music but do have plans of simple sounds if I can find the right clips.
 
Simple design or it will not show up on apple iOS devices (which are a huge share of the market any way you slice it).

More and more people are moving towards mobile technology that does not play nicely with flash. Personally I have always despised flash heavy websites.
 
Yeah. Facebook games are a big part of my deteriorating social life, so Flash is a must for me. My Droid X doesnt do too well with those games, but the Xoom tablet does an incredible job at everything I ask of it. My wife, who is an Apple freak even wants to ditch her iPad for a Xoom..which is a huge victory for me and our ongoing Android VS Apple battle lol.
 
LegacyGT said:
Simple design or it will not show up on apple iOS devices (which are a huge share of the market any way you slice it).

More and more people are moving towards mobile technology that does not play nicely with flash. Personally I have always despised flash heavy websites.
Click to expand...

What would you suggest Bill? Keep in mind, the animation is nothing serious or over the top. The whole layout will be simple and easy to use.
 
rwright said:
What would you suggest Bill? Keep in mind, the animation is nothing serious or over the top. The whole layout will be simple and easy to use.
Click to expand...
rwright,

There are two issues here:

1) Simple and easy to use, and
2) Do or do not use Flash.

For a mobile phone (regardless of type), webpages should be simpler and easier to use because of the small screen size. You could use Flash if you didn't care about the iPhones and iPads, and still make an easy-to-use website for the small mobile phone screens.

OTOH, iPads can handle very complex webpages as long as they don't have Flash. The webpage doesn't have to be simple, but they can't have flash.

One issue to consider is what device people will use to surf the web. I'm typing this on a PC now because I'm taking a break from working and am sitting next to my PC. However...

Well over 90% of my internet usage is with my iPad. It's probably PC 2-3%, iPhone 5-7%, and 90+% using my iPad.

I expect that the vast majority of internet surfing will be from a tablet in the next five years. For iPads alone, Apple is forcasting that they will sell 55 million iPads in 2012.

Even given the number of iPads out there, I'd suggest keeping it relatively simple AND no Flash.

Regards,

Dan.
 
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