Why not Flash??
A personal view.
I can only offer the following comments as a personal point-of-view with regard to the use of the Macromedia Flash software in web sites.
Advocates, who are probably mainly Flash programmers, might well suggest that it provides an interactive user experience. To counter this, I would suggest that it actually serves to restrict user access to the web site.
Without actual figures I would expect that there are a considerable number of web users who are unable to view Flash files, since it requires a browser plug-in to be installed. Admittedly this is a free download but does necessitate someone installing it.
Secondly, even with the plug-in installed, Flash files are usually quite large and consequently take time to download and open in a browser window. I frequently hear peple say that they cannot be bothered to wait for these files to download and so they go elsewhere.
It would therefore be good practice, if you have a Flash based site, to offer a non-Flash alternative. Then you have to provide two web sites with the same information. So why bother with the Flash site in the first place?
Flash programming requires expensive software so programmers will expect premium rates. As a general rule, Flash sites are more expensive than non-Flash sites.
My personal view is that Flash programmers like to use Flash for web sites because they can, not because it adds very much to the user experience.
