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Flash Websites (http://www.macromedia.com) were (and still are) a popular choice for website developers due to their ability to provide cool-looking and flashy (hah!) web sites. A flash website can be as interactive as you’d like, allowing you to add animated menus, clever interfaces and videos throughout your site.
However, over the past few years, the use of flash has decreased due to several problems related to performance, difficulty to maintain and update, and Search Engine Optimization issues.
Flash has been around for quite some time, and while it has been implemented by several applications, small and large, its support has dwindled a bit over the years. Flash is harder to work with than general HTML and CSS web authoring, and it also requires users to download plugins to use and use up more memory when navigating the site. As a result, users with slower, less updated computers may have trouble using website in Flash. As a result, media giants such as Apple, have dropped their support for Flash and gone with newer, faster programming languages such as HTML5. As a result, Flash websites are not supported or visible on mobile products such as iPads, iPhones and older mobile devices.
Flash websites are different from traditional websites in that Flash is like one big animation file that runs on your web server. It ‘reacts’ to certain actions done by users and animates accordingly. Therefore, in order to modify any content on a traditional flash website, a developer needs to open up the animation file, and re-arrange/compile the information in order to add new content. This makes it harder for non-developers to add content, which can be a huge program for SEO. Traditional websites based on a Content Management System such as Drupal or WordPress make adding content as easy as possible.
One of the most concerning problems associated with Flash is the fact that search engine spiders have a really hard time navigating the sites. This should be a huge warning sign for anyone wanting to rank high in Google. Since Flash is one big animation file (rather than a collection of web-pages linked together in HTML) Google only sees one big file. While Google’s current algorithm let it ‘peek’ into a flash website and determine what it’s about, it will likely miss a lot of the context of your website and therefore not rank your individual pages accordingly. For example, Google will likely not know that you have a ‘services’ page on your website, and an ‘about’ page, all it sees is one big animation file on your homepage. If Google doesn’t see new content, and can’t read what the content is about, your site will never rank.
Flash is a great tool for interactive websites that require no rankings and is ok with some older computers and mobile products (iPhones, iPads, iPods and older smart phones) not being able to access it. However, for those wanting to get online exposure, which is 99% of businesses out there, it would be best to stick to a traditional HTML/CSS website or look into HTML5 development.
