Flash Animations vs. Images
The topic of whether or not to use flash in websites came up in our forum recently, and I thought I would do a post about the difference between flash and regular graphic images like GIFs and JPGs. First of all, I do not want to come across as endorsing either method, so I will start by saying that it is a personal choice which method you decide to use on your website. Like everything else in web design, it's a matter of balancing what you want with the restrictions of how things work.
Let's start with Flash, which will be .swf files that you embed in your web pages. The first thing about Flash, and probably the most important, is that .swf files require a browser plug-in to display them. That alone is a bit of a disadvantage since you can't always guarantee that everyone will have the plug-in installed in their browser. Luckily, the Flash plug-in is included in every major browser release, so usually the only thing that you really have to worry about is which version they have installed. That's right, versions. Currently most users will have the Flash Player 8 or 9 plug-in, however it is not unheard of to have quite a few visitors with version going as low as Flash Player 6. The issue with player versions is that some older versions don't understand and cannot properly display some of the newer features that Flash offers. Video is one that jumps out right away, as well as certain Actionscript functionality.
Making sure that your users have the correct version is usually just a matter of checking their browser, and this can be easily done with pre-built "sniffer" functions. Flash will actually created an HTML page with the correct code needed to check for player versions and ask the user to upgrade if the proper version is not found. The problem with this is that it then causes the user to do something, which takes them away from buying your products. All in all, my advice is that unless you absolutely need a new feature to show your content, try to make sure that all Flash content works on Flash Player version 7 and above.
On the other hand, support for images is built right into all browsers. While previous versions of Internet Explorer had some issues with transparency in PNG files, they could still be displayed. The user does not have to do anything, or install a plug-in, or anything else. However, images do not offer the animation and interface abilities that Flash offers (despite GIF files having rudimentary animation capabilities). Due to this, images do not offer the visual appeal that Flash animations can offer.
Here's the rule that I follow, as I have watched JavaScript grow up in the last few years. For the most part, simple interfaces (such as image galleries) and animations can actually be done using JavaScript. While this also requires JavaScript on the client machine, it does not require a plug-in. If your project needs simply cannot be met with JavaScript, or require advanced video or animation, then you should look at going with Flash.
This post is filed under Developers' Corner and has the following keyword tags: flash, adobe.
