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Building a Web Presence: Add a little FLASH

Web development has come a long way since the days when simple formatted text pages with a few bitmap images were the only components to a web site. Today - animated movies and interactive content are fast becoming the norm. The dominant provider of interactive content online is Flash. Flash is a technology created by Macromedia that allows web developers to create animated, highly visual interactive content (like the animated intro on our home page - or the promotional movie on the right).

Internet pages have traditionally been very simple documents with only the most basic content so that any computer anywhere in the world with any type of Internet Browser can interpret and display the content in a predictable manner. An internet browser interpreted HTML code that was a simple way of rendering formatted text and displaying bitmap images. HTML was never intended to display animated interactive content.

However web developers were desperate for a way to deliver more robust content to their web viewers and since internet browsers were not equipped to handle anything more than text and images - it was up to third party software companies to develop plugins that would enable users to view this richer content. The downside of creating web content with third party software is that web users cannot view this content unless they have the appropriate plugin.

Macromedia Flash has succeeded where other third party plugins have not. Currently over 98% of all web users worldwide have the Flash Player plugin allowing them to view rich, animated web content on their computers. Used properly, Flash can add a level of professionalism and sophistication to your web presence. Used carelessly - Flash can make your website into a circus sideshow.

General Flash advice:

- Making your web visitors watch a movie before they get to enter you website will not endear you to customers. Even if there is an option to "Skip Intro" you should never make your visitors wait. If you want to have an elaborate movie describing your services - include it on the main page of the site.

- Today developers are building entire websites out in Flash with stunning results. As effective as Flash is at getting across your message - it is also adviseable to keep a significant amount of HTML text content on your pages for search engine visibility. The only downside of sites created entirely in Flash is that search engines cannot detect text created in FLash. For optimal search engine visibilty have a healthy balance between Flash and HTML content.

- Just because it is called "Flash" - doesn't mean it has to flash. Strive for elegant simplicity. Flashy, fast paced movies can irritate your web visitors.

To add a little Flash to your web presence- look no further than Digitalprint.net. Our web department has experienced Flash developers and designers that can create a memorable online experience for your visitors.

contact Mark at Digitalprint.net to find out more!

markb@digitalprint.net
(416)924-9634x221