1 Reply Latest reply: Dec 7, 2012 8:45 AM by sinious RSS

    Flash websites with swf object to support non-flash media and SEO

    alayna11 Community Member
    alayna11 Nov 19, 2012 4:30 PM

      HI

      Just wishing to get an idea of how many people are still designing these kinds of websites.?

      It seems alot of people are deserting Flash in place of HTML5, sadly. !

      Any feedback is welcomed.

        • 1. Re: Flash websites with swf object to support non-flash media and SEO
          sinious CommunityMVP
          sinious Dec 7, 2012 8:45 AM (in response to alayna11)

          It's not sad, it's just promoting proper usage of the tool. Flash should be used for complex animations (2d/3d) or games. If the entire site is a very rich, lush, dynamic animation experience then there's no reason it can't be Flash. Same with most games. Such sites will take an order of magnitude longer to code in canvas. HTML5 as a whole is very far off from a standard (just a few parts are even in a recommended stage and that's because they were smart enough to break HTML5 into parts). Usage of flash in that scenario (lack of canvas support) is very desirable.

           

          What isn't desirable is a site made entirely in Flash with simple menu animations, some video and basic movement (sliding/fading banners, simple animations, etc). That's a target for HTML5 with Flash as a backup media player if HTML5 is not supported. JavaScript/CSS/JS in XHTML, the standard, are very capable.

           

          The continued difficulty is the setup of proper URL linking with server-side generated content being served for SEO. The general idea is the obstacles involved to pull off a seamless SEO integration on a full Flash site makes the time hardly seem worth it. And by URL linking I simply mean apache rewrite enabled servers (etc) feeding a useful URI so Flash can read it and open the site to that specific page (e.g. http://www.example.com/some/page/FAQ). That works great in HTML5 but for novice flash developers on a full flash site it's a huge hassle that's often neglected or abandoned, and SEO suffers.

           

          I haven't had any requests in a few years for full Flash sites. Although the requests are non-stop for AIR apps for devices, Flash games and kiosks for high end presentations, which are the strengths of the engine and IMHO the proper use of the sophisticated multimedia engine.