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General Discussion

Posted by Brian Mizra
Brian Mizra
2,043 Points

Flash sites

I´ve noticed that most sites are made in CSS and HTML and so on, but there´s also sites made in Flash.

I dont know if it´s true but it seems that designers avoid doing flash sites for some reason, is it because of functionality, or are there really no issues left on that subject?

As my intention is to work in both ways, what are the main differences, pros and cons and so on?

In the web, there´s this war between flash designers and programmers, maybe you guys have a resume on that...

2 Answers

Andrew Whitfield
Andrew Whitfield
5,239 Points
Andrew Whitfield
Andrew Whitfield
5,239 Points

There's no war between flash designers and programmers because Flash Developers and other developers are aiming to achieve very similar things.

The major differences occur in relation to platform support and audience.

For example, if your flash development/design includes animated text and images, basic games or advertising and it COULD be done in html4/5, CSS2/3 and JavaScript without significant degradation, then we are encouraged to avoid Flash so that it can work on more browsers, more platforms and require few dependencies.

If, however, you're developing for an audience that isn't using Flash at all, such as iPad and iPhone users, then there'd be little to no choice and you would have to forego flash entirely in order to present your content. Given this situation is common for iOS devices, there's a trend to move away from Flash for things that don't explicitly need it and which can be done using web development techniques.

So, what you will probably see is centred around this problem. It's not a problem of the technology, but where it is to be viewed and whether there's a more future-proof alternative.

I don't know if that helps? I'd say learn ActionScript 3 anyway to learn flash, which would give a chance to learn Adobe AIR and make portable apps, but I'd not invest much time in Flash for common tasks that could be learned in HTML5/CSS3/JavaScript. Instead, focus any flash learning on those things that can't be done easily in the other languages.

Thanks

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

[T]here's a trend to move away from Flash for things that don't explicitly need it and which can be done using web development techniques.

I 100% agree with this, sentiment.

Flash is a great technology for making apps & games for the web. Flash is also a great technique for making banners.

However for building most websites flash is terrible for accessibility, SEO and being mobile-friendly.

Here's tool so you can see how a flash site would look to a search engine.