Flash is dead, right?
I’ve heard many come to its defense, before, but there is really only one question we should be asking:
Is it effective?
The purpose of the web, and of all media really, is to communicate. If you’re not communicating with your audience, there’s no point. The purpose of a medium is to convey a message.
Brian Hirschy was curious about Flash sites, so he conducted a small survey and this is what he found:
Most Flash sites where used by photographers. This can be an easier way to protect the photographers work, since outstanding photo themes like ProPhoto Theme for WordPress if new to the scene.
All in all, this crude survey simply supports what we’ve thought to be true all along. Flash is dead, but now we know why. It isn’t because of the developers or Apple, it’s because it isn’t effective.
I heard from one of the ChurchMag authors who was asked to modify/tweak/update an old website. Part of it was built in Flash! He successfully made the changes, but the ChurchMag writing team wondered if it would have made more sense for the client to consider a rebuild!
Should a Church consider building a Flash based website?
I say, no.
The Church has a message and it’s important that message is conveyed clearly.
In fact, with 74% of users leaving a web page before it loads, the message doesn’t even have a chance to be heard in the first place!
Is there any situations where a Flash based website would be appropriate for a Church?
Is Flash really dead?
Should we sent it to the grave if it isn’t?
What do you think?
[via Brian Hirschy]
James Cooper says
Couldn’t agree more about flash not being good for Church sites (if any sites!)
You seen this flash church site – it’s erm, something: http://www.evangelcathedral.net/
I recently had a client really want an effect they’d seen on a flash site (home page section type boxes that grew/shrunk when you moused over them). I did the same effect using css/jquery. It loaded in about 1/5 of the time and being real code was actually useful for seo!
Also, on church sites – as I once heard “you should only have a gold rotating cross on the site if there’s one on the church roof!!!”
Eric Dye says
That is truly a site to see …
Brian Hirschy says
Would have been nice to get a request to use that graphic: I worked really hard on it!
Nonetheless, thanks for the link!
Also, who is Brian Hierschy?
Eric Dye says
Dude. Sooo sorry about the misspell!
Updated.
Brian Hirschy says
no worries!
Eric Dye says
🙂
Nick Sheetz says
In most cases I would say that it is not appropriate for churches to use a flash based website. Most of the time when I see a flash site it is over the top and cheesy; especially when it comes to church sites. Most flash sites are difficult to navigate and are slow to load which is very frustrating.
All that being said, I do believe there is an exception to the rule. The church that I work for has a Clover site which is flash based and I couldn’t be happier with it. They are very user friendly and easy to navigate on both the back end and the user side. Their sites have awesome designs, lots of options for customization and come with a mobile friendly site automatically.
Eric Dye says
Great insights, Nick.
Paul Clifford says
Oh my gosh. If the flash on that site wasn’t bad enough, the music changing volume is. I bet their tech peeps tried and tell them not to do it. Ouch. My ears are still ringing.
Eric Dye says
LOL! — True story.