Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Flash and the Internet
Advances in technology for the home have given us the ability to interact and communicate online, at speeds that have never been seen before.
In 2006, the number of households in the UK with access to the Internet reached an all-time high, with over 55% of UK homes having a connection.1
Broadband is now recognised around the world as the new way to access the Internet from home.
UK Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer connection speeds of up to 8Mbps for home users (depending on the area and availability), whilst in the Asian continent, speeds of up to 1Gbit/s (1000Mbps)2 are readily available in most parts.
However, just because so many people have access to the Internet does not mean they all use the same connection speeds.
But remember those who do not use the Internet as much as others. Up to 45% of the UK may still either be not connected or may still have dial-up connections. This means that the way they view websites online is restricted.
Flash on the Internet: the disadvantages
Imagine, not being able to access a website with Flash content as fast as others. Pages could take much longer to load if the site is not developed in an accessible way. People would lose interest and quickly navigate to a previous page or give up all together.
It is widely known throughout the web design industry, that people will wait an average maximum time of ten seconds for a page to load. By this time, the page may not be complete and could quickly be exited.
Imagine too, that the user viewing the website does not have the Flash player installed.
True, it is free to use and download, but again, if a user is accessing the page through a slower connection, how long would it really take to download the 1,324K Flash player? Adobe®, who recently acquired the company that produces the Flash player, suggest that it could take two minutes on a 56K modem.
This may be the case, but most modems and Internet connections can be affected by various factors and the connection speed can be reduced dramatically. So, if modem is only running at 28K, the download time doubles immediately and due to the very nature of Internet connection, this connection speed can fluctuate and change frequently.
Without the Flash player, the website would be rendered pointless. Another possible customer or viewer lost.
Flash animations and websites are now being developed using Macromedia® Studio 8, which outputs content for Flash player 9. What happens if the user does not have the latest version of the Flash player installed? Simple. They cannot view the Flash content.
This is, yet again, pointless to the user.
Another reason why Flash is not recommended as a web development tool, is the fact that it can produce file sizes that are just impossible to download in a reasonable amount of time for a user.
If not developed correctly, the file sizes can grow and grow, forcing the user to wait or leave.
Search engines on the Internet are currently unable to read Flash applications online. This is one of the key reasons why web development agencies reject the use of Flash for websites.
Optimisation techniques for search engines, for example Google™, use standards such as CSS and XHTML to enhance websites. Flash is unable to produce effects that even resemble the highly rated techniques used to reach high-ranking on search engines. Because the engines cannot read it, they cannot ‘crawl’ or search around the site to analyse it’s content.
Flash on the Internet: the advantages
However, we must not disapprove of Flash completely. There are ways to use Flash on the Internet without sacrificing accessibility, search engine ranking and file size.
One method of reducing the file size for Flash websites is to divide the Flash file in to many smaller files. By loading the files into the player only when needed, the user can download the smaller file and reduce the loading time.
This is especially useful for multi-page websites, as the content and number of pages can increase file sizes to an unsuitable amount.
Developers can also break-up the file even further. If the Flash file has elements similar to standard HTML websites, the developer can separate the file into components to be used within a HTML file.
The navigation, for example, can be removed and embedded into a HTML file, so that this loads alone. This can then control the site as normal, by reloading the HTML page.
The most common method of Flash development is to offer an alternative viewing option.
It is sometimes impossible to break up a Flash file into separate files and, therefore, a different method of development is needed.
By having a landing page that lets the user select the way in which they want to navigate (HTML or Flash), the website can still maintain a full Flash interface, but will still be accessible to users who cannot use Flash.
This is also a key method for search engine optimisation. The search engine will not be able to read the Flash content and will revert to ‘crawling’ or analysing the HTML version of the website.
There are advantages and disadvantages to consider when developing Flash websites.
Neither method of website design (HTML or Flash) can claim to be the best, but some factors favour Flash and other factors favour HTML.
Therefore, it is important to review a target audience when designing a website and deciding what method of development is regarded as the optimal and most convenient method for the targeted user.
Users viewing the site will be more satisfied with near-instant content as opposed to waiting for the content to download. Even with advanced connection techniques, such as broadband, some people will still be using dial-up or slower connections. With this in mind, remember that these users could be your audience for the website. They could be the customers of your online shop. And most of all, you could lose them by choosing the wrong method to design your website.
1 National Statistics Online ‘Internet Access’ at:
www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=8&Pos=1&ColRank=1&Rank=176
(20 Sep 06).
2 Wikipedia ‘Broadband Internet Access Worldwide’ at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Internet_access_worldwide#Asia
(20 Sep 06).
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