7 Reasons Flash Websites Are Bad
Flash is cool. Seeing a well built Flash website always makes me feel good. In that sense it is a bit like a waffle bowl ice cream from Dairy Queen. I really want one, it’s great while I’m eating it, but in the end I know it’s bad. You probably know why a waffle bowl ice cream is bad, here’s 7 reasons why Flash is bad too.
#1. No Back Button
The back button is widely accepted as the second most important navigational element in the web browser. Flash websites break it. If you’re browsing a Flash website, hitting the back button will probably take you back to the website you were at before. “I looked at a lot of pages on this Flash website though!” I know, but your web browser doesn’t know that.
If the back button doesn’t take you back to the website you were at before, it won’t do anything. Nothing. Some web developers use nasty techniques to prevent the back button from working, thus keeping you on their site. But that isn’t very nice and usually angers most people, so they’ll just leave.
#2. Loading…
Nearly all Flash websites start with a loading screen. This is annoying. It means you have to sit in front of your computer, doing absolutely nothing, while information you might never look at is downloaded to your computer. Why is that? Because most Flash websites load all of their content at the beginning. Do you really want a loading screen to be the first impression potential customers get? No, didn’t think so.
#3. Not So Mobile
Efforts are being made to make Flash viewable on mobile devices, however the vast majority of web capable phones do not have any Flash functionality whatsoever. Mobile browsing is one of the fastest growing areas of the web. Devices like the iPhone are transforming on-the-go web browsing. Coupled with high-speed cell networks, the whole mobile browsing thing is suddenly a viable alternative to actually going on a computer to look something up. The group of people using these technologies aren’t seeing any Flash websites though. So having a Flash website means you are automatically dismissing one of the fastest-growing segments of the web. Seems a little unwise to me.
#4. No Linking or Bookmarking
People are spending more and more time on the web these days, and they’re sending more and more links to their friends. But if you have a Flash website there is only one page, with all the Flash loaded inside of it. So you can’t actually link to any of the sub-pages. Instead you need to send the link and give the person instructions on what they need to click. This is all a lot more effort because many web users often don’t remember how they get to pages.
For the same reasons given for linking, bookmarking a specific page in a Flash website is also very difficult to do. Instead you have to bookmark the page and hope you remember how you found the information you were wanting to bookmark. Not really very user friendly.
#5. Usability is Low
Most websites have a similar structure. There is a menu, a scrollbar on the right and when you scroll the mousewheel the page moves up so you can continue reading. Flash makes it easy for web developers to break these standard controls and recreate them in whatever form they choose. This often leads to a website that looks very cool, but isn’t very easy to use. Do you want to lose those customers that can’t use your website?
#6. Accessibility is also Low
Not everyone looks at the web through a browser. Some people look at it through a screen reader. This is a piece of software that reads the page to a user. Normally these pieces of software are used by people with visual impairments. The problem is, screen readers can’t read Flash. So neither can the people that use them.
Flash also doesn’t respond to standard browser controls that increase the size of text. This means that people who are reading your website with the text size increased (because they have trouble reading small text) won’t see an increased text size on your Flash website, this means they’re more likely to leave.
#7. Plugin Dependency
Many people don’t realise it but Flash is a third party plugin. It isn’t an integral part of the browser. This means if users don’t have it installed they won’t see your website at all. For a user and potential customer this is very frustrating. Sure, Flash may be installed on over 90% of the worlds computers, but a lot of those may have older versions of Flash. An old version of Flash is as good as no Flash at all if your website is making use of features in newer versions.
Flash isn’t all bad
Flash does have many practical applications though. It is great for online video, streaming music, online games, online applications, banner ads and image slideshows. There are many more things it is useful for but those would generally be considered the primary uses.
So the moral of the story is this. Next time you feel like having a waffle bowl, have something that is better for you. Like a non-Flash based website.
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