Flash or Html – Which to choose?

When creating a website sooner or later each of us will put this question before. I think the correct answer is never clear, and most often looks like this: “depends on what you need it for”. And this is a very good starting point.

Here are the general characteristics of both methods, I have prepared for the purposes of this article, so this should not be treated as a definition.

Page executed in html:

• Its main task is to inform
• It is based on the text and pictures.
• Have less graphics
• Often has many categories and subcategories
• Has a smaller size, therefore loads quickly
• Still may use flash elements in the form of banners, etc.
• Easier in SEO

Page executed in flash:

• Its main task is showy presentation.
• Most common theme is based on the number of animations
• Has a larger size, therefore i takes longer to load
• Badly executed will be hard to possition in search engines.
• May function poorly on slower computers (thankfully those happens to be less and less)
• Definitely better for small amounts of text and a fewer categories
• Well executed will make the competition will be filled with envy
• You are free to juggle with text, animation, music, movie clips and photos.
• If it’s interesting, keeps the viewer online for longer time which more likely will effect sharing it with friends

I could point out the advantages and disadvantages of both methods endlessly, and I am convinced that how many people so many opinions. Ideally, I recommend to have both versions of the page. But we can not always afford it.

Making a choice can be difficult, therefore based on personal experience in designing sites and advising my clients, I came up with a few selection criteria, which, I hope, makes it much easier to decide.

The amount and type of content:

» Html – if we have a large amount of text.

» Flash – if we want to show a lot of images or have a lot of graphic material

Budget (this example concerns the rather simple page, but the proportion of costs does not change much considering larger projects)

» Html – if our budget is from 250 to 1000$

» Flash – if we want to spend more than 1000$

Purpose

» Html – if our priority is to provide information

» Flash – if you want to impress with a presentation