Website fully written ( or displayed ) in Flash. When this is NOT a good idea?

Question

From this tweet: http://twitter.com/azaaza/status/6508524118 I reach a website which is made completely in Flash (at least the front end).

alt text http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/3116/screenshotvz.png

It looks fantastic and it could have been written with HTML + Ajax, but I guess ( because I don't know much flash my self ) they site owners felt more comfortable with Flash and thought it would be easier ( once again, I guess this happens when you have thousands of flight hours with flash )

Judging by the status bar, it seems that most of the images and text are downloaded dynamically ( otherwise the flash file would've been too heavy )

Question(s):

What type of webapps should consider do all the frontend in flash?

Would it be easier? Yes/No, only if you suck at HTML+Ajax but you excel at Flash?

Is that for everyone?

When it should not be used?

I guess that an extra benefit is that you don't have IE+FF+Opera+Chrome+Safari compatibility problems

Would this be the next programming model for webapps front end?

Answer 1

Short answer: Don't create 100% flash websites. There are many compatibility and user experience problems.

To elaborate on this....

What type of webapps should consider do all the frontend in flash?

• Portfolio, temporary websites linked to an event... In my opinion it's ok to create a "full flash website" if the aim of the website is not to provide any information but more impress the user.

Would it be easier? Yes/No, only if you suck at HTML+Ajax but you excel at Flash?

• Well if you're good at flash it'd be easier to develop

Is that for everyone?

• No. As a web developer I can do flash, but I don't like flash.

When it should not be used?

• Imho, never. It always bother me when I reach a Flash website as it's annoying to find anything. It is also not accessible at all from devices like iPhone.

I guess that an extra benefit is that you don't have IE+FF+Opera+Chrome+Safari compatibility problems

• You have cross platform compatibility instead. Also people without flash can't access your website.

Would this be the next programming model for webapps front end?

• I highly doubt it. The new uses of html+javascript allows to create dynamic website without using flash.

Answer 2

Reasons to hate pure Flash sites:

• Doesn't work with mobiles / cell phones
• With most Flash sites it's impossible to bookmark a page or share a link to a page in the site.
• Keyboard shortcuts almost never work as expected.
• Weird scrollbars and other clever interface elements.
• Bad for SEO. I think Google has just started to index Flash content.
• Any visitor with a disability is going to have a hard time using a pure Flash site.

That's it for now.