full flash sites good or bad?

[r3d1405241470 0]

what do you think of flash sites that load forever

[Darren1405241470 0]

Full flash sites are only good when you have nothing better to do than sit in front of a blank screen for 5 minutes per page for a bunch of crappy moving pictures etc. I really dislike them, I mean a flash in the top corner of each page on a site to catch the attention is okay but pages and pages full of them? There is just no need for that much flash!

[squirel 0]

Just the menu should be in flash. If the page takes too long to load then I am most likely not going to sit there and wait for it. But if when I click on a button it goes spinning around the page or something I'll be ecstatic and probably visit the page more often.Also, flash is very bandwidth consuming so if you plan on a lot of members, plan on a high fee.

[Hercco 0]

Heh. I think the answers that you are looking for can be found in your question

 

My opinion about flash on websites... If you have content that people come after to your site, like articles for example, don't use flash. If you do, at least offer alternative version of the page without flash objects.

 

On the other hand, some people design sites that don't really have "content" that people are looking for. With this I mean sites that don't have information that somebody might need and search. Instead these sites are just for watching. In this case flash is more than ok.

Flash is a technique that can be used to produce very cool looking animations and thus suits for "experience" sites very well. Usually these sites are not browsed in hurry so people don't mind longer load time.

 

One thing to keep in mind with flash... As it takes forever (like r3d put it) to load the stuff better be amazing. Sad thing is that the people that don't do flash very well usually don't bother optimizing load times...

 

 

I'd also like to remind that although flash nowadays is mostly used to create intro animations and menus to websites, it can be also used as a powerful to present content. If you have for example made research on history nothing isn't more illustrative as an flash timeline that reacts to mouse movement.

[neno.tu 0]

If it loads just one time is ok to me...Some sites make flash sites based on the movieclip load and it makes it annoying to load everytime you change a site...Personally I like flash sites... But not all of them...Only if they are good that makes worth the waiting....

[wedjarl 0]

The most annoying thing about Flash nowadays is its now being used for large advertisements...(like in YahooMail). Anyway there are people who blocks flash sometimes especially those with slow dial up connections and low system resources like me. I dont like visiting a full flash site...Flash would be cool though if it will be used as a part of the site like headers or effects etc.., for navbars, nyah!, I personally dont like it. It wont allow you that "open in new page" option. btw..

http://forums.xisto.com/
http://forums.xisto.com/

are cool examples of sites with flash.

[jcguy 0]

To advertisers and webmasters, flash is good because it is far superior in catching attention of visitors versus other media like GIF or JPG images. Personally, i can tolerate small, quick falsh animation, but defintely not large and long facniful ones which takes forever to load.

[Bigyan 0]

Flash sites are gr8 and cool. You can have special effects and make the site much more user friendly. But the sad part is that most of the animations take a hell lot of time to load and a lot of guys like me are not blessed with high bandwidth. So to us a flash only site is like an ant trying to go round the globe in foot !!.I personally like Flash site greatly, but its hellish for anyone with low bandwidth.In short, alongwith the flash site make an alternative HTML site too for the poor souls like me.

[hast-webben 0]

Hi,I've been seen many extremly cool sites made in flash, but as mentioned around does it takes bw, and if you're sitting with dialup connection to borring.Then next isn't it as easy as regular pages to design for regular people. You have to be designer or expirence with video productions.I hope that multimedia pages would came in a new format in the future, that would make it easier for all to both most important to download and also to create own work.So until then is my opinion: Flash rocks, Flash sucks! (Sorry macromedia)CheersBrgdsJens

[lhunath 0]

Flash sites have some huge disadvantages.

You can't copy/paste text from/in them.

You can't copy an URL to show a specific thing to somebody else, you need to tell them what options to click and all to get there....

They're slow to load, high in graphics, not dynamic enough regarding resolutions etc

They're very hard to manage and maintain in a dynamic environment. If you need to update your site often it's a pain in the *bottom*.

It often gets far too confusing and misleading for users.

Not everybody has flash support, so you limit your target audience even more.

The sounds with them are often uncalled for and can lead to increadible annoyance with some users. Using sounds on the web without users expecting them is a big No No.

Flash is very nice and amasing for high quality feed, but not at all an option for full website, as it defeats the entire concept of what a website is supposed to be. Accessable, dynamic, and expansive.

[unbeatable 0]

All flash sites are bad in lots of ways. I think flash should be used for Nav bars and Headers and intros only. There is only 2 good all flash sites i know of. it is http://www.adobe.com/ and http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[kokushta 0]

Yeah, flash site are fancy to look at, but when it take a life to load... I totally agree with all of you, flash elemnts OK, but full flash sites NO - unless that site is to show how good you are creating flash site and animations.Another point is, search engine and robots don't like flash very much, they are no good for your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). And SEO is a very important matter if you want your site to be listet in the first 10 results.

[jcguy 0]

Flash sites have some huge disadvantages.

You can't copy/paste text from/in them.

To certain websites concerned with copyright issues, Flash is beneficial to them because visitors cannot copy text from their site and infringe on their copyright.

[avalon1405241471 0]

You can't copy/paste text from/in them.>> U can copy the text if the creator set to allow it to.You can't copy an URL to show a specific thing to somebody else, you need to tell them what options to click and all to get there....>> U can copy the URL if the creator set to allow it to.They're slow to load, high in graphics, not dynamic enough regarding resolutions etc>> loading can be adjusted if proper adjustment is made.They're very hard to manage and maintain in a dynamic environment. If you need to update your site often it's a pain in the *bottom*.>> Flash content can be dynamic.It often gets far too confusing and misleading for users.>>That depend on the person who created it, if he/she had place the users 1st before everything else.Not everybody has flash support, so you limit your target audience even more.>> Most new browser come with flash plugin installed. Flash plugin can be downloaded for free.The sounds with them are often uncalled for and can lead to increadible annoyance with some users. Using sounds on the web without users expecting them is a big No No.>>Agree, musics and sounds can be annoying if it does not give the users an option to have it turned off. It should allow music on/off, for some users speakers may be not product quality sound.I also agree that full flash site have difficulties in getting ranking in search engines.

[iGuest 3]

You can use flash to your advantage, but not to overuse (abuse) it.

While researching on road-map development of where Mambo CMS was heading towards, I stumbled across Mambo Awards for best site using Mambo, the best site is by Mambo Solutions which you can see at http://www.mambosolutions.com/ , to me, they have used flash well. Not completely in flash, but enough to make a site that much better.

I disagree with using flash for menus unless waiting time is minimal, being able to get to the links and what the viewer is looking for is more important than to have them waiting because they've got no navigation means.

People will not notice small sections of flash though, I had already been to Mambo Solutions and didn't realise the heading till I saw it on the awards, only then was I interested in the look of it. So I suggest, unless you're wanting people to look at your site because of how awesome you've made it then you should go with it, because you're expecting them to view the site for it's looks and not the content.

Visualise your target audience and make it how you see fit, looks, content or a bit of both, it's up to you in the end.

Cheers,


MC