"Joshua Goldberg" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm dead, my website that has taken 22 weeks to launch is all done in
Flash.
> Am going to have to get it done in HTML as well for those who do not have
an
> ADSL connection. In Canada Hi-Speed internet has pretty well taken over a few years ago.
Oh, yes, that's a bit of a problem; but it's easily avoided.
May I ask: Who told you it was a good idea to go all-Flash? I assume that it was also the same web
designer or marketing firm who wanted a small fortune to design your website. If it took 22 weeks, I
can't imagine how much it must have cost <gulp>.
Flash is wonderful. I *love* it for what it does well; but it must be used judiciously. One of the
beautiful things about Flash is that you can "weave" .SWF movie objects into a standard
HTML/CSS-based website without killing the download time. Flash movies can be very tiny (like 20k or
less), and still provide lots of visual impact, and they download as an image file, after the HTML
page has loaded. Flash is the best way to deliver slick, animated controls and high-impact visual
presentations. It's a lot of fun to play with and, if done well, can fascinate visitors and invite
them to stay longer (It's "sticky.") If it's done poorly, it can be very annoying. Flash is also
poor at handling large amounts of text, while HTML/CSS handles text brilliantly.
Asking your visitors to download a 500k+ website in its entirety before you can deliver your message
is asking too much, even with broadband. By using HTML pages to break-up the Flash presentation, and
to maintain legacy and cross-platform compatibility in the bargain, you save yourself a lot of
headaches. It's also much easier to maintain an HTML website than to maintain a Flash website,
especially if the interface is bound up in a bunch of custom ActionScript code, etc. HTML/CSS web
pages allow wide flexibility, compatibility and incredible ease of updating that Flash just can't
match. For instance: A simple script can "browser sniff" (figure out what kind of browser the
visitor is using) and deliver your website formatted for that platform (such as a Pocket PC). The
cool part is that this is done using *one* set of HTML pages - the delivery styles are changed using
external CSS stylesheets, which control the presentation format. Flash cannot match this
flexibility, since it is delivered as a singular .SWF movie file, which must be edited and
recompiled for changes to be made.
Hope this helps. Email me if you need more help deciding what to do next.
-Barry