[BubbleButt]

I don't have much web experience but I am looking to get a decent base. I've always heard that Flash is only good for elements within a website. It's horrible for SEO, clients can't update it, etc, etc.

However, is it really that bad to create an entire site in Flash? Aren't there ways to make it more searchable? and updatable?

Personally I find it easier to use than HTML. There are no Type restrictions, you are more free to design as you like and not to mention animation.

I would love to get some opinions from some of you (more) experienced web guys and gals.

Thanks

[Boss Hog]

I am no website designer and not sure what you can do to improve the SEO side of flash, in my opinion though HTML is the way to go with only small elements of flash, if you want your website to stand any chance of being ranked for your chosen keywords then "spiderable" (is that even a word? ) content is needed.

My parents don't even have flash on their PC, why restrict them as a customer when there is no need.

Maybe some of the pro's will give their opinions on this.

[simplepop]

Hey, dont be scared of flash, its awesome! and, flash is SE friendly, in a good number of ways, and content management systems are possible too. Infact in some real intresting and dynamic ways.

[Boss Hog]

Originally Posted by simplepop

Hey, dont be scared of flash, its awesome! and, flash is SE friendly, in a good number of ways, and content management systems are possible too. Infact in some real intresting and dynamic ways.

Nice site Simplepop, however, I don't see any indexable content at all, am I missing something?

[BubbleButt]

What site are you referring to Boss-Hog?

Is there a way to make a Flash website updatable?

[DougBarned]

I'll post more on my opinion of flash tomorrow, but firstly I'll tell you one major drawback - you can't view flash elements or sites on an iPhone. Now, with over 65% of the smartphone market's Internet usage, this is a platform that shouldn't be ignored.

/Doug

[simplepop]

Of course there is!

Im just putting together a simple blog site, which will allow me to update, content, with photos. change the colours of the blog, fonts, style of the blog. All sorts of customization. And the page you would use to make all these changes, would be another swf with a login area. Its all very flexible actually, And! alot of fun...

[simplepop]

Hi, thought id let people know how its going, ive just managed to get the basics together.at the moment, i think its limited to about 8 entrys....theres 3 in there atm...

But give it a go, test it out. this is an example of how to update flash content using a flash form.


http://blog.simplepop.co.uk/BlogUpdate.swf - the flash update form, Add new entrys into the blog system, oh..mm a couple of thins to do yet. but enter the date in the format of "01/02/05" and the two "img" links, enter a url. its not cleary marked out just yet, but it does the trick.

Psst...SIMPLEPOP! - the site where the content will be added.

managed to get this together with the night, tomorow im eager to set up the rest, adding more background images, and uploading them, changing the colours, theme, freinds links...

But for now, off to bed, be curious to see how you get on.

Thanks all!

[LighthouseDM]

Hi, Simplepop...i really like your flash blog. It has a good look and feel to it...a little more fun compared to other blogs I've seen. I know search engines can extract text from web but how is it in comparison to html/css based websites?
How long did it take you to create the blog?

We tend to prefer html sites with an element of flash to bring a website to life.

Lighthouse

www.lighthousedm.co.uk

[simplepop]

Hi L-DM

With flash i use 3 combined methods of emebeding search engine content, One is taking the content from flash and displaying it as "alternative" content, for when flash isnt avaible. This is as good as text being read from a standard html page.

Also, flash itself is now search engine freindly, and there has always been ways to make flash search engine freindly, its just now theres the extra bonus of flash being search engine freindly itself!


And, please take a look through my blog, ive updated it to a much better extent. Please do feel free to test it out, if you have any problems just let me know, itd be good to see how it gets used and what people think.

Im mostly intrested in what people think, of updating the blog page? And the blog iteself, was something ive been working on the last couple of days, just about got it finished now...apart from the font being changed dynamically.