http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/ … flash.html

its a shame in a way - flash cann be sooo slow - I hate sitting watching "page is loading..... 32%"

I read a great article a few years back about flash pages. I can't quite remember the exact elegant phrase used by the auther but it went along the lines of

If you have to have a flash intro page, then put a 'skip intro' link on it somewhere
If you have a 'skip intro' link you're saying that your intro is not worth watching

a great catch-22 situation that i hope would deter anyone from putting a flash splash page on their site



What do people think of spalsh pages (non-flash ones)?

I've always liked the idea and now i see some coming back in fashion to replace the home page as webmasters realise SEO traffic is best sent to deeper pages I think it could be quite interesting

Northie wrote:

If you have to have a flash intro page, then put a 'skip intro' link on it somewhere
If you have a 'skip intro' link you're saying that your intro is not worth watching

that's a beautiful quote! Whenever i see a flash intro page my eyes go into overdrive searching high and low for the "skip intro" screen. If i can't find it, I close the site

What do people think of spalsh pages (non-flash ones)?

to me it depends of their purpose. In most cases i just want access to whatever i'm looking for as fast as possible. The more steps needed to get there, the more angry i become

i think flash is better used within the site, as a demonstration tool to help show something better (comes back to that online shopping thread Nic) etc.

I use one flash widget as an instant contact method on my caricatures site (on the contact us page if anyone wants to look. Its via that IM aggregator Digsby which I find quite good)

i think flash is fine if you use it for banners and what not but i wouldn't build a site out of it. I did that once and what a mission, unless you are very serious about flash and are willing to learn the action scripts through and through it just isn't functional. It is however quite pretty, especially when the car brands build their showcase sites... movies and game sites utilize it a lot as well but those generally tick me off.

I used to think the splash screen was a good idea but as nic wrote, when looking for a site i want the information. Something that pops up while the page is loading isnt terrible, but it has to bugger off quickly once the home page has loaded.

exactly....I have nothing against flash - I think it can be awesome and even use it on our corporate site (a small patch of it)

it's how flash is used that gets me - if it takes up the entire page and prevents me from access the content i seek while it loads then i'll usually bugger off