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FLASH & MULTIMEDIA WEB DESIGN, LONDON & UK |
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WHAT IS FLASH? |
Macromedia Flash is a powerful & versatile tool for designing & delivering low-bandwidth animations,
presentations & web sites. It can be used to create entire web sites or to add interactive elements to standard
HTML pages. With 98% of internet enabled desktop PCs now coming with the Flash plugin (source: Macromedia
Flash web site), Flash enables web designers to incorporate sound, movement & interactivity - a great way to add visual flair to any web solution.
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DO I REALLY NEED A FLASH DRIVEN WEB SITE? |
This decision should be based primarily on your company’s target audience.
As a tool for showcasing media products, Flash is second to none - but the vast
majority of web sites simply do not benefit from using it. Flash is ideally suited
towards media-rich presentations or sequences that require interactivity. However,
don't just choose to use it for the sake of it!
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FLASH - THE ADVANTAGES |
The main advantage of Flash is that is that it can enhance visitor experience
& provide elements such as animation, sound & interactivity that cannot
be so easily achieved with an HTML web site.
Flash provides designers with a great deal of control over the final product
& enables the creation of features & environments that are difficult or impossible
to reproduce in a static web site.
All the major web browsers now ship with a flash plugin already installed
so a growing number of computers are equipped to view these files & despite
popular belief, Flash web sites can be
built & optimised to have relatively small file sizes & therefore fast download times.
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FLASH - THE DISADVANTAGES |
The main disadvantage of Flash is that the content is not currently indexed by
search engines. This makes web sites built entirely in Flash a risky business
prospect for a new or small company who is looking to grow their online presence
through the search engines.
A site built entirely in Flash will have difficulty in achieving a high search
engine ranking - even with search engine optimisation. Some search engines are
making moves towards including more multimedia content within their results -
but at this stage, the major player Google does not display Flash content
in it's results.
Every Flash web site requires a plugin to view it. Even with the generous 85%
estimation, that's still 15% of potential customers who will not be able to view
the site without downloading the plugin. Many will simply not bother.
Although download times can be small, the fact that a (sometimes bulky) file
has to be downloaded, means that site visitors must commit to your site before
they know whether they will like it. Often they'll choose to move on - especially
on dial-up internet connections.
Used inappropriately, Flash design has an amazing ability to be a serious annoyance
to website visitors & this explains much of it’s bad press over the years.
Although this is the fault of the designer rather than the software, there is
certainly a section of people who will hit their back button at the slightest
glimpse of a loading bar or a intro animation.
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WHERE IS FLASH BEST UTILISED? |
The powerful multimedia capabilities of a Flash enabled web site
offers endless possibilities. Some of the most common applications are:
 Company Branding -
Use the power of Flash to reinforce your company brand with both sound & animation
Interactive
Mapping - Communicate high levels of complex detail
impossible with conventional online mapping
Screensavers -
Flash is superb for producing screensavers &
other forms of viral marketing that operates as low cost advertising
Applications & Demonstrations -
Demonstrate complex ideas
& applications using the powerful coding language behind Flash
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TALK TO US ABOUT YOUR FLASH REQUIREMENTS... |
Flash can add endless possibilities to an online presence, but it has
to be managed & deployed sympathetically. Why not contact us & discuss
your Flash & multimedia requirements. We would be delighted to listen. |
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WEB DESIGN |
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Bold Image offer a range of low cost web design packages to suit all budgets.
 BUSINESS
FIRST - FROM £750
Everything you need to get your business online [MORE  ]
 BUSINESS
ADVANCED - FROM £1250
A great value web design package for the more demanding client [MORE ]
 BUSINESS
SHOP - FROM £1500
All you need to set up & run your own online shop [MORE ] |
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 CLICK ON A LOGO & VIEW OUR WORK |
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