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Newsletter - All About Flash
Welcome to the October installment of the monthly MWI email newsletter. There are currently 1,339 subscribers. Subscribing is as easy as a visit to MWI's website at www.mwi.com, and unsubscribing is as easy as replying to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
ALL ABOUT FLASH
Some people hear the word "Flash" used in the context of a website and the first thoughts through their minds are "What about people who don't have Flash?" "I hate those Flash intros--just let me see the website!" and "Isn't Flash expensive?" I thought it would be appropriate to answer some of those questions we get asked about the infamous technology produced by Macromedia and give some examples of how Flash can be used wisely.
WHAT IS FLASH?
Flash is a software program developed by Macromedia who also produces Dreamweaver, Coldfusion, and Shockwave. A few years ago, Flash was primarily used for creating animated graphics on websites or on CD-ROMs. Companies that put Flash on their website had to worry about download speeds with all those 28.8 users out there and whether or not someone had the Flash plug-in (the Flash plug-in is a piece of software that, when installed, becomes part of your browser (like Internet Explorer or Netscape) and allows your browser to properly display a Flash animation).
WHAT IS FLASH TODAY?
Flash has grown from fancy animations to an web development platform. Macromedia uses it for their ecommerce store to facilitate and enhance the shopping experience. It is used by many companies as a front-end for content management systems and to create desktop applications. And of course, you can still use it for adding animation to your website or CD-ROM project. At MWI, we've used it on websites, CD-ROMs, and to create presentations that blow away anything you can do with PowerPoint. But what about those questions and complaints people have?
I HATE FLASH INTROS
You're not alone. The good news is that Flash intros are not popular today, having gone out of style three or four years ago. What is popular today is to have "Flash elements" on a website. This means creating the website in basic HTML, but having a Flash file in part of that page. This means people don't have to click on the "skip" button and they can navigate the website unimpeded. Examples of this include our own website at www.mwi.com and at Sorenson Capital's website at www.sorensoncapital.com where the Flash intro is simply part of the homepage and doesn't get in the way. A website where Flash elements are used throughout the site to achieve a certain aesthetic appeal is www.voiceaccount.com.
WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO DON'T HAVE FLASH?
In 1999 over 96% of all computers already had the Flash plug-in. Today it's somewhere between 99% and 100%. Just about any new browser you download already has it pre-installed. If a browser doesn't have it, it takes about 10 seconds for someone to install. The answer to that question is "Just about everyone has it, so don't worry about it."
DOESN'T IT TAKE A LONG TIME TO DOWNLOAD?
If you load a Flash file with lots of photos, audio, video, and complex animation, then yes, it will take longer to download. However, it doesn't take any longer to download than an HTML site containing the same elements. Chances are that if you created a website in Flash and an identical website in HTML, the Flash website might actually download faster than the HTML site.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
A website with Flash on it will cost more than a website without Flash. Answering the question "How much more?" is a little harder. The answer is that it depends on what you want to do and how much of it. The more animation and the more complex the animation (for example, 3D animation), the more video, audio, graphics and such, the more the Flash project is going to cost. But to give some specifics, take the Sorenson Capital website for example. This small Flash animation on the homepage would cost around $600. The Flash elements on Voice Account's website would cost more because there are different Flash animations on each page. The one on the homepage might cost $600, and each additional one on the secondary pages might cost $300 since they're simpler than the one on the homepage. An entire Flash website like the one we're building for Pinnacle Securityor the Brighton Ski Resort website at www.brightonresort.com could cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 or more, depending on the details. Of course pricing and quality will vary depending on the designer or agency you choose.
WHAT ABOUT FLASH AND SEARCH ENGINES?
This is a question that doesn't get asked as much as it should. The answer is that for the time being, a Flash website or the text in a Flash file is not indexed by search engines. That doesn't mean having Flash on your website will hurt your search engines results, it will hurt only if your entire website is developed in Flash. However, this is a temporary issue that will most likely be solved at a future date. One of the challenges for search engines is that when you click on a link in a Flash website, the URL does not change. This means that no page other than the homepage of a Flash website can be bookmarked, and the search engines can't link directly to any page of a Flash website other than the homepage.
HOW CAN MY COMPANY BENEFIT FROM FLASH?
Most of our clients use Flash for three things; 1) to enhance the look and feel of their website (as in the cases of Sorenson Capital and Voice Account), 2) for online product demonstrations, and 3) for multimedia projects. Our clients use Flash to help them look more professional and established and to better communicate with their customers, potential customers, and other interested parties.
The $100-dollar question is "Will using Flash help my company make money and/or save money?" It's all about ROI. Will the emotional appeal created by Flash animation on our homepage cause potential customers to be impressed with our company and contact us for more information about our products and services? Will that value be greater to our company than the cost of producing the Flash? Maybe it will, maybe it won't. There are thousands of companies that have made that investment, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone.
WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?
By visiting Macromedia's website at www.macromedia.com. If you want to look at a LOT of Flash websites, go to www.linkdup.com where you'll find hundreds of professionally designed Flash websites. And of course if we at MWI can be of any service, just contact us at info@mwi.com.
-- Joshua Steimle, CEO
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