Flash Websites need to die

[Alex Snyder]

Finally! The day has come where we can all say goodbye to Flash websites. Hooray hooray!

Oh....what's that? You like big Flash websites?

Everyday I get calls from dealers asking for referrals on various products and those calls always move into other online marketing areas. Today, a call about instant chat led to a conversation about how "the boss" wanted to go a certain route with their website. It was obvious "the boss" was on an ego trip because he wanted to plaster his face all over the homepage inside a bunch of interactive Flash sections. I thought to myself how sad it is that website providers are still trying to sell dealers on things that don't really help business and it is also sad that these conversations are still happening in 2010....and knowing our industry we'll still be having this conversation in 2015.

Why is it sad?

1.  SEO:  search engines still cannot read a Flash element.  If your whole site is Flash, then....ouch.

2.  Installs:  not everyone keeps their computers up-to-date.  If your site requires someone to upgrade something, it is an annoyance and most people don't think you're important enough to invest their time in.

3.  Apple:  iPhones and iPads don't support Flash.  There are over 40 million iPhones and over half a million iPads in the world today.  Don't alienate this crowd.

4.  Speed:  Flash typically takes longer to load.  If your site takes too long to load, people will bounce.  And, Google knows that.  A slow loading site will hurt your Google standings.

Here's a different spin on things:

Javascript has always been a fantastic tool for the web; people just forgot that it was a great tool because they didn't know how to use it properly. The same thing has happened with Flash, and the same thing will happen to Web 2.0 if we aren't able to focus on what really matters - delivering great web designs and web systems that deliver on objectives, improve the user experience, are standards compliant and work for the job that they were intended for. Lets use whatever technology we choose, wherever its appropriate and useful for the client and their customers. Lets focus on using a technology because it will help drive our clients business. Is that too much to ask?

[Quote from:  1minus1]

If your objective is to just put your HIPPO ego out to the world, then Flash is fantastic!  But if your objective is to provide a meaningful experience to your shoppers, that will eventually lead to profit, then shy away from Flash.

Here we are in 2010 and we need to get "oooohhhh aaaahhhh pretty" out of our vocabulary and get serious about retail.

Die flash die!

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Come'on Alex..what' wrong with a BIG Flashy oooohhhh aaaahhhh pretty website?

Most dealer website companies have become successful in this industry give the "client" what they want. The HIPPOH Highest Paid Persons Opinion Homepage.

Most dealers advertise for 1 reason. Ego. This for years has been translating over to their online presence.

I'm not sure I would/could work for a dealer like that.

2015..so soon?

 

[DrewAment]

I have one comment "AMEN"

 

[gosollc]

I think flash is great for certain things but has slowly evolved from being used for motion graphics to rich media apps, like video players, etc. Flash has some great charting, data visualization use cases as well. I agree 100% with your post, although, I do love this one flash website: http://www.eternalmoonwalk.com

 

[Matt Watson (blog)]

A lot of things that are done on websites for marketing can now be done with jQuery, CSS or videos. Instead of crazy flash presentations, it is just as easy to create a video of it instead.

The future of Flash and Silverlight will be more for business applications. But unfortunately those won't work on an iPad...

The other problem is Flash is a graphic artists tool. Creating advanced websites with HTML5 and javascript will require a new skill set.

 

[Gregg Hunter (blog)]

You are absolutely correct. Dealers who would never make a move without consulting their financials scrap websites for the latest fad without ever checking their previous website's metrics. You start talking about bounce rates, average visitor times, and unique visitors, and 99% of upper management will get the deer in the headlights look. But when a new vendor wants to change their website from a green background to yellow, vertical navigation keys to horizontal or add a bunch of pop-ups, they're all in.

 

[Eric Miltsch (blog)]

Reason #3 is probably the biggest reason to consider; if you have a site that may be viewed on any Apply hand-held device, flash elements need to be reconsidered.

An entire site still made in flash? Scrap it b/c it's probably outdated anyway.

And w/load times being more important, Alex is right here; perfect example of heavy load times - but it makes for one of the best flash sites out there: Home - Got Milk

(SEO'ing a flash site isn't impossible, btw)

Nice post Alex.

 

[Matt Scalcione]

Alex, it looks like Steve Jobs agrees with you:
http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

 

[Evan Carroll]

At least a few of these points seem quite off...

The reason why Flash isn't supported on the iPad has everything to do with Apple. Adobe is willing to bend over backwards to get it working on Apple's devices and Apple has quite abrasively denied their efforts. A more politically correct statement would be -- at least in this case -- if you want Flash, use a device that will permit Adobe to port it to the device. You can't fault Adobe here it's almost entirely Apple.

Secondly, for almost two years Google has been able to index Flash. Flash is undeniably horrible for SEO but, the statement made, "search engines still cannot read a Flash element" is brazenly incorrect and dishonest.

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

Evan - if you're going to call me out, I would at least expect you to provide some facts that show me as "brazenly incorrect and dishonest".