Ever browse across a website that took ten million years to load or required a road map to find the navigation bar? True, Flash Technology might impress your clients till their eyes fall out. However, Flash Technology requires a skillful balance between gaudy and elegant. We've composed some advice on how to make use of Flash Technology without turning your mainstream prospects away.

Navigation Bars

Unless your website tests prospects on their IQ, don't require a user to jump through hoops, just to find the menu. Not finding the menu within the first three seconds will prove deadly on your sales conversion ratios. Why, you ask? One reason, most all other websites shorten users' attention spans by providing quick content and navigation. If your website takes longer than the average attention span, to find anything, traffic will click through to the next website. How do I know? Well, I've clicked through to the next website on many occasions and someone lost my sale.

Hybrid Versus Traditional

Traditional Flash websites work great for certain businesses (full flash). These types of websites include full Flash tabs without HTML. The entire interface relies on Flash. Hybrid Flash websites use a combination of Flash and HTML. Hybrid websites work better for SEO and Marketing. Traditional work better for artistic websites targeting select and numbered clients. The best choice really depends on your business. You must know your target audience. A traditional flash website will not work well when selling hosting packages to mass numbers. When in doubt, choose a hybrid design. The artistic effect might not rate as high but you won't loose any market attention.

Intros

The best flash intro is a short flash intro. Flash intros work effectively by burning an image into the users' minds. They serve as quick attention grabbers to pull someone into the website. Long and lengthy introductions may look nice but they take too long to load. Long intros will deter some visitors away from your website. The perfect example of an effective introduction can be found at (http://www.ericnordstrom.net). It answers the questions of what and who in the first few seconds. It also auto-forwards the visitor to the main content page after completion. Also be sure to include a skip button for returning visitors.

Conclusion

Now you know what elements to seek when you build your first flash website. Always keep the menu system a click away. Research your target audience to examine the advantages of a traditional full flash website. Skip the intros unless you keep it short and sweet. Follow these general guidelines and your website will be a success.

Copyright 2005 Nathan Sire

Nathan Drew Sire, President of Captain Media, services the web design/development market. He's been developing code since the age of eight. You can read more about his company at http://www.captainmedia.com or contact him at info@captainmedia.com