Should I choose a Flash website over HTML?

Let me try to make this post very short and quick.

Flash websites are meant for you if you are searching for a website that has style and is really pleasing to the eyes. Flash works can take large amount of time to create and the designer needs to be really creative if it is to be designed from the scratch. My preferred choice of companies that can ideally adopt flash websites would be interior designing companies/ web design companies where there is a necessity to show their clients the kind of creativity and passion they have in designs. 

Here is a quick looks into the limitations of a flash websites and why it is not still a good choice.

Flash content cannot be crawled by many search engines. For example: If I would have done this line in flash, the crawlers will not be able to read it unlike now. 

So what if the crawlers don't read it? Crawlers read the content in your websites and rank your websites in a similar content environment based on various factors.  So if your content is not readable, then the crawler will not be able to retrieve your results when there is a similar search done by any user. This in turn affects your search engine rankings.

Many companies claim that flash content is readable by crawlers today. I do not know the authenticity of this information, but if any of you claim its true I would be happy to see it in the comments sections with reasons why you claim it true.

As far as I have seen you can make a flash website and still deliver your content in normal readable format which can then be crawled easily by search engines. But such projects need a lot of planning and the time taken to complete such projects is much higher thus increasing the cost of the project to a very large extent. Also by referring into http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=72746 it is clearly understood that google can index text content in flash file but other search engines may not. Even google has admitted clearly that they might not be able to index all flash files and has its limitations.

Google’s page also states that “we recommend that you use rich-media technologies like Flash primarily for decorative purposes, and instead use HTML for content and navigation. This makes your site more crawler-friendly, and also makes it accessible to a larger audience including, for example, readers with visual impairments that require the use of screen readers, users of old or non-standard browsers, and users with limited or low-bandwidth connections such as a cellphone or mobile device. An added bonus for Using HTML for navigation will allow users to bookmark content and send direct links in email”.

Moreover making a flash website that needs constant updates would be a bad choice as it becomes increasingly difficult for maintenance of any changes that need to be done. So now it’s your choice in making decisions on the kind of website you are looking for.

Another good read for more knowledge into it would be http://searchengineland.com/google-now-crawling-and-indexing-flash-content-14299

Hope that has answered the question. Looking to create a Flash/HTML website? Contact us at i-proconsulting.com or email us at info@i-proconsulting.com