This has been a running question ever since flash was introduced to the web in 1996. For those of you who lived in the dark ages and are just being kyrogenically defrosted flash technology is the most popular method for adding animation and GUI interactivity to web pages. To give this question the proper attention I’ll take a look at the SWOT analysis.

Strengths: Design ability, animation, speed..

Weaknesses: compatibility with flash players, compatibility with internet and mobile browsers, bandwidth, deviation from web standards, SEO..

Opportunities: Rich Media Experience, Interactivity, games, tests..

Threats: New technology, bandwidth, browser acceptance, WC3 compliance.

With Flash quickly becoming the standard for interactive web design, it’s easy to fall under the assumptions that if you’re going to create a website, you have to use Flash if you want it to be at its most functional, cutting edge, or just plain “cool”.

Flash is a very useful tool, but like any other tool it’s only truly effective if it’s used correctly and in the proper context. So when you’re setting out to design a website in Flash, ask yourself the following questions first.

What would I be using Flash to accomplish?
You might say, “to make an animated user interface”, “to display my animations”, “to create a multimedia interactive experience for my users”, or “to accomplish a graphical layout that would be impossible otherwise”. Those are good reasons to use Flash; a large percentage of viewers on the web want to be entertained. With short attention spans and people who just plain don’t want to read designers have to come up with something that engages the viewer. However when it comes down to the “text” flash may not be your best avenue - flash should be thought of as the muscle that pushes and pulls viewers to the message. A message is only good if it is read and it can’t be read if it can’t be found. If way stay with the muscle analogy if you have all muscle and no substance or depth then viewers are going to loose interest. The purpose of website design and presentation is to convey information and interact visually with an end-user.

Why do programmers hate flash?
Programmers usually only like to build on there already developed knowledge base.. example: old school C++ programmers move toward .NET and ASP.NET. Flash presents an entirely knew paradigm shift in thinking allowing the designer to interact with the back end functionality. It adds one more thing that programmers have to learn for communicating with their already established web-based languages. Programmers also, resist flash because of its proprietary nature, and dependence on a player plug in. Despite their hatred the graphical benefits flash offers are too great to be brushed aside - programmers are going to have to suck it up and climb that mountain. Coming from the design side of things flash is a designers dream and packed with action script you have a software development program built for online.

Will my audience even be able to view it?
Yes, flash is becoming more popular and on newer computers sometime even comes pre-installed with the viewer as part of the browser package. On average 80-85% of web users have some version of the Flash player plugin on their computer. If you’re worried about losing that15-20% you may want to consider not using Flash or, as many do, creating a pure-HTML mirror of your site for those who aren’t Flash-capable (this is the best alternative). I myself am annoyed when I’m asked which version I’d like to view a website in HTML or flash. Take a look at any Fortune 500 company and see if they use flash and if they apologize for it..

Is there another way that I can do those things?
Image rollovers? Javascript. Glowing text? DHTML. Complicated graphical interfaces with positioned links? Nested tables and layers. Slideshow image galleries? These can also be done with Javascript.

Some Flash-like functions can be done more simply through programming. Web designers typically leave the programming languages to the programmers, but there are dozens of free sites (such as DynamicDrive.com or JavascriptKit.com) that provide pre-written copy-paste code for non-commercial users. Using code rather than Flash can save a great deal on overall file size for your web page; it can also ensure that your page will be more readily viewable without any plugins/software, as your average browser can parse and display most code without any additional plugins.

Face the reality, there are some things that Flash can do that you just can’t do using HTML or any other more dynamic web programming languages. A lot of those things are related to how your GUI (general user interface) is displayed, or how the graphics on your page are positioned or how they interact with your end-user. But although you can do a lot of pretty radical visual effects with Flash, you can also overdo it. So, keep that in mind.