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Problem #1 - Images
The whole reason why Flash was
developed was to be able to use vector graphics on web pages. Vector Graphics
are infinitely smaller than pixel based images, they can be resized to any size
and animated without creating large file sizes. Unfortunately, many designers
use regular pixel based graphics like photos in their Flash design and end up
with huge files. Rule #1 for good Flash design should be...Use Vector Graphics
only!
Problem #2 - Sound
What is a good picture without
sound? Once you have this great Flash animated page, you want to add sound to
it. This is the #2 culprit resulting in large file sizes and slow loads. The
trick here is to use loops. Flash Music Loops are ultra short slices of music,
that when looped in Flash play great background music sound tracks that load
fast and sound great. You can find Flash Music Loops at
http://www.flashmusictracks.com These loops that are near CD quality and
most are only 15k or less in size. They also offer a free Flash Music Player
that allows for the music to continue playing even if the visitor switches to
another page, you can even select a different music track or stop the music at
any time while browsing, totally impossible with any normal Flash
implementation. Another thing that helps keep file sizes down is to use low-res
MP3 files for button effects and sound effects. You don't really need 128k MP3
quality when most computer's speakers will sound just as good with 24k or 32k
MP3s. Another easy file size saver...use mono!
Deadly Sin Two - Missing Links
This fact is often overlooked.
When you use Flash Buttons and Links, search engines will no longer find your
links on the pages. This can be extremely disastrous for your search engine
rankings. Search Engines need to be able to follow links to successfully index
your site. Plus, the more well placed links the robot finds on your site, the
higher your ranking will be. When you use all Flash, you won't have any visible
links and you effectively kill any chance of being found on search engines.
What's the answer here? Use a
Flash/HTML hybrid page. Even if you have Flash links, still try to duplicate
those links on the bottom of the page in HTML code so the search engines can
find them.
Deadly Sin Three -
Compatibility
This factor used to be
important but today it's no longer relevant. In the early days of Flash, many
web users didn't have the Flash plug in and they moved on to another site rather
than to download and install Flash just to visit your site. This is no longer an
issue. 99% of all web users will have browsers that can 'see' Flash pages and
you no longer have to design a Flash and Non-Flash Version for your site. If
your visitors run for the hills rather than stick around to visit your site it's
the load time, not compatibility that is to blame.
So what is a man to do? You
want Flash but you still want quick load times and good search engine rankings.
It can be done but you need to design your Flash site with all these factors in
mind. It is possible to design Flash Pages that actually load faster than many
'regular' pages with lots of graphics. A good hybrid design with enough HTML
elements can get you ranked well with the search engines. The Flash Music Tracks
website mentioned above is a perfect example. It uses Flash Banners and Logos
only, everything else is HTML. The site looks good, sounds good and everything
loads very fast.
So, you don't have to be afraid
of Flash killing your web business if you use Flash wisely.
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