Common Flash Website Mistakes

Although Photoshop is the ideal tool for designing websites, Illustrator (or Freehand) is ideal for designing Flash animations. Flash is a vector based plugin that is pre loaded in just about every browser. It allows for smooth animation, sound clips, and greater interactivity than is possible in a standard web page. There are some disadvantages with using Flash so you have to weigh its use carefully. Flash sites are not indexed by search engines, individual pages within a Flash site cannot be book marked, and other browser tools like forward and back do not work in Flash files. Flash content is also harder to update, and can only be updated in limited ways using content management systems. Also, don't overuse all the wizz bang possibilities just because they are there. This can result in files that are far too large. This is extremely common in Flash based sites. We recommend using Flash for embedded presentations, limited conceptual animations, splash pages (when they are appropriate), and when functionality demands its use.

There is no doubt that designing for the web takes a bit of getting used to. But you certainly don't have to become a computer programmer to work effectively in this medium. Just try and keep these rules of thumb in mind and try not to get "too tight" just because you're not sure if what you are designing will work. There is usually a way to solve, or work around, most design challenges.

If you're not sure if your designs are going to translate to the web, feel free to send them to Newfangled for a design review. We'll give you the feedback you need, and help you avoid some of the pitfalls common to transitioning from print design to the web. Most of all, make sure you have fun doing it!