There are plenty of websites out there that have fancy, all-singing, all-dancing Flash animations as ’splash pages’ to greet the user upon arrival. The problem is that most users are impatient and, unless it’s a masterpiece, the Flash animation will give them an excuse to leave your site.
Adobe’s popular web animation software powers many big websites around the globe – just take a look at the Nike Plus website for some sexy stuff. It’s certainly impressive, but it takes time to load and time is one thing that I don’t have….
Flash animations can also confound a user because it adds a layer of complexity to a website - what are all these moving parts, what do I click next, how do I buy, where do I go to get what I want. Excessive animation will just confuse people and turn them away.
Another consideration is the search engine compatibility of pages that contain Flash and other animation files. Animation can’t be read by search engine spiders (although I understand that technology is getting better in this area) and the lengthy delays required to download animations will also cause some spiders to reject the page altogether. Google and others prefer rich, text-based pages, rather than pages chock full of animations, images and non-HTML elements.
So, my advice is to do away with the Flash animations, unless you are trying to sell the fact that you are an animator or video effects specialist.
Remember that old chestnut – KISS – keep it simple stupid.
Tags: animation, flash, graphical elements, search engine optimization, SEO, speed