What About The Other 45% - Flash Websites

One of my phpCrazySite clients contacted me yesterday to ask my opinion of Flash websites as she was considering the benefits of having large images and the slick graphics that a Flash website can provide  - - -  and I was also curious as to whether my opinion should change from the one I have maintained for many years now. Technology marches on and it appears that a majority of photographers peers are utilizing Flash websites, putting pressure on everyone to conform to that look.

Well it turns out that my opinion has not changed as to my logic to NOT use Flash websites - if the goal is to attract as many viewers and potential customers as possible. Here were my thoughts presented to my CrazySite client:
------

While I too do really like the Flash look on many websites and the use of large images, I am in general not a fan of using Flash if the goal is to use a website to attract customers or make the experience as universal and easy as possible. For an artsy look, flash is great - for a website that is able to load as fast as possible, smaller images, no sound and html based webpages are generally the best. Regardless of whether Flash is used or html is used, large images are large images in file size and so will take much longer to load.

With Flash, the whole website is one movie (not separate pages), and large chunks must be loaded before you can view the website - that is the reason that all Flash websites have a period of time where an animated indicator displays where you need to wait for things to load before you see the website - that is the case with high speed internet so if someone has regular dial up, they will probably not wait the long period of time for a Flash website to open and in some cases may not be able to open it. This "one movie" concept also plays havock with a websites ability to be listed well in Search Engines. Then there is the fact that many current Flash websites require the latest Flash plugin be installed on the viewers computer - many potential viewers of your website do not upgrade their computer or its software (including browsers and plugins) regularly to the latest and so will not be able to view such websites, and even if prompted to download the latest plugin, may resist doing so.

Yes a large percentage of viewers will not have these problems (although I personally do not generally wait around for Flash sites to open even with high speed) - but it may be a huge number that you never know about that cannot access your website because of it being Flash based or because of poor web design using large graphics, music, etc. My thought is that many of the people who can access slow loading Flash based websites and the large files that are part of those websites - because of having the latest computers/software/upgrades along with high speed connections, are professionals, photographers and web designers - who are not always my target audience, and so when it comes down to brass tax I am less concerned about what their view is as far as their ability to load my website without problems or not.

A web search can provide many clues as to how design of a website should be approached. As an example, the current statistics for US broadband internet usage as of August 2008 are:


This quote is from this source - http://r-rwebdesign.com/blog/?tag=us-broadband-statistics

And here is another similar statistic showing that while high speed internet usage is increasing and suggests that it may be the connection method of up to 55% of internet users - - - any sensible person would have to wonder about the other 45% (not an insignificant number) and their ability to access their website - http://internetstatstoday.com/?p=255 

This was the GOOGLE search phrase I used to start my research - "statistics internet connection United States 2008".

Of course you shouldn't believe me, but should do your own research if there should be a concern as to how you present such a valuable customer attracting tool as your website. The above is just my personal viewpoint and I have nothing against ones who make the choice to use websites that only benefit from the latest in technology. To those who's main motivation for putting effort and cost into having a business website is to attract new clients, this may thread be a starting point to looking into the most effective way to design and present it to the masses. Hope it is of some benefit!

----

I always design for every user. Not only do you need to consider the Flash aspect, but also what browser they're using, and the screen resolution. If you do use flash, provide a non-flash link on the first page, so that those without it can still access your images/site. Never design a page so that those with 800x600 resolution have to scroll sideways to see it. Provide thumbnails or lower resolution images that the users then click on to see the higher resolution images, which reduces initial download times. Only use text fonts that are cross-browser compatible. View your site from multiple browsers (Google Chrome anyone?) and see if there are any issues.

The way I look at it is, that one person who can't view your site, may be the person with the biggest wallet.

I could care less about fancy effects and look... I prefer minimalistic looking pages were everything is ordered hierarchically and were its expected to be...

It's interesting Travis, I have come to the same conclusion about websites.  Flash or extremely text heavy and updated.  I learned that my idea of a good website isn't compatable with SEO.  I like clean front pages with not a lot of text and then links to the info you are looking for.  I have tried adding text to my front page, although I don't like the look I get more hits.
Anyway, I would say a very small percentage of my business comes from people doing a search on a random search engine, my weddings are word of mouth, my boudoir stuff is from a free classified ad (tacky, but SO effective) and also word of mouth on bridal forums which I hope isn't temporary, it's effective too, but completely out of my control.
I've just come to the conclusion I have to design my website to look nice and then then get people to visit it with good old fashioned marketing. 
I am not an internet guru like Robert but I am trying to become more educated.  I am also not gifted at marketing, which is more important than good photography skills I have decided.

It's local, it's called ksl.com
The trick is that I put in a military discount for wives of men in active duty.  I found out a lot of girls search for "military discount" just to see what's out there and they find my ad and say "hey I should do that".  It's great.

I know of craigslist too, but the format is weird, I've never done anything with it.

Yeah, I got that impression from craigslist too.  I was skeptical about using the one I am, but I have only received really good calls from it.  I have my website address listed and they can visit that and get information before calling me so I don't get calls from people that don't know the actual cost of my product.   
I know there are pros and cons for having your pricing online.  I choose to do it and it works well for me.  When people call me they are ready to buy every time.  I don't have to play salesman in a bad way.