Aug 22

Why Flash is Mostly Bad

Posted by: Josh Walsh in Design.

Adobe’s animation and multimedia technology, Flash, distracts users from a websites sites core content, and introduces a myriad of design problems. While there are a few occasions where flash is acceptable, and can even add value, typically the use of Flash makes websites harder to use.

One of the largest problems with flash is Search Engine visibility, and accessibility to those with disabilities. While these problems are severe, this article’s focus is on usability, not accessibility.

Say No to Flash Intro

The last few years have brought rise to a new fad, which should be avoided. The Flash intro page. These pages are simply an evolution of another usability sin, the splash page. These pages add little or no value, and delay the user’s ability to get to the content they came for.

Fortunately, nearly all flash intro’s now include a skip link, which do allow for users to get to the content more quickly. However, simply removing the intro all together improves the user-experience dramatically.

Flash Encourages Bad Design Practices

Flash encourages unnecessary animation. Just because things can move, doesn’t mean they should move.

The internet has become such a popular medium online because it allows it’s users to take control. Flash based websites often take on characteristics more like Television, and less like the Internet. Forcing users to sit through animation sequences, no matter how cool or flashy they are, makes for a boring, passive experience.

Flash allows for graphic designers to reinvent the wheel of standard interface elements. Scroll bars, command buttons, dropdowns, and other standard elements have gone through years of design modification and standardization. Users are familiar with these elements, and use them daily. Changing this experience makes your website more confusing to use.

It’s worth noting that Flash is not directly the cause of these problems. There are plenty of ways to develop in Flash that meet usability guidelines. The problem is simply that current Flash design trends encourage bad design practices.

Flash Breaks Important Browser Functionality

Flash requires a plug-in to function, and has remarkable market penetration. The flash plug-in is installed on nearly all computers, and is quick and simple to install if needed. However, since it is a plug-in, many standard browser features do not function as the user would expect, if they work at all.

Many of these items have been addressed by Adobe, which is great, but until they are consistently implemented, the problem persists.

  • Clicking the back button takes you to the previous page, not to the previous visible state as a user would expect.
  • Link colors do not change after links have been visited making it more difficult to remember where you have and haven’t been.
  • Users are forced to read text in the font-size specified by the designer. They cannot increase or decrease text size as they can with HTML.
  • Searching does not work properly. Text included in the flash file is not found by the web browsers searching functionality.

Things Are Improving

Adobe is making great headway addressing these issues. In fact, since the Macromedia acquisition, the Flash technology has improved dramatically. However, the issues mentioned above are more the fault of the designer, and not of the technology. Hopefully, as the technology continually improves, designers will begin to adapt these usability principals into their development practices.

About Josh Walsh

Josh Walsh is a Managing Partner at Designing Interactive. He's also an award winning designer, author and speaker on the topics of User Experience Design, User Interface Design and Usability Research. You can follow him on twitter at: @joshwalsh

10 Comments »

  1. Danny Sedor

    I agree wholeheartedly that flash has a tendancy to overwhelm the user experience. I have learned from first hand experience, however, properly placed flash can add an important functionality to sites were Video and/or animation are a crucial aspect to the message the site is trying to convey, for example the old Macromedia site and the current “splash” at the beginning of adobe.com.

    As with anything, Flash can be a useful tool when used properly and not the sole utility used in a page design.

    Cant wait for the next version where some of the changes you have mentioned come to reality.

    August 26, 2007

  2. Josh Walsh

    Danny: I agree. The problem, as with most design problems, is in the designer, not the technology.

    August 26, 2007

  3. rewdy.com » Designing Interactive » Why Flash is Mostly Bad

    [...] Designing Interactive » Why Flash is Mostly Bad [...]

    September 7, 2007

  4. Domenic

    Your article’s title is unnecessarily dramatic and functionally untrue. After reading the content of your article, I can’t understand how you came to the conclusion that Flash is mostly bad. (although perhaps the title was just to pique interest?)

    -Say No to Flash Intro:
    A flaw of the designer if it’s useless; but it could be theoretically useful. Perhaps a small animation coupled with a localization choice that sets a cookie so that the splash doesn’t appear on subsequent visits? Even so, the splash screen is a choice of the designer, not something inherently bad about Flash.

    -Flash Encourages Bad Design Practices:
    This is like saying that CSS encourages bad design practices. It’s axiomatic that just because something /can/ be done doesn’t mean that it /should/ be done. It is a flaw in reasoning to say that Flash is the cause.

    -Flash Breaks Important Browser Functionality:
    +Back button: Correct back button functionality can be implemented by a competent designer. This is a non-issue.

    +Link colors: Also can be implemented by a competent designer. Non-issue.

    +Adjustable text size: Also can be implemented by a competent designer. Non-issue.

    +Searchability: I don’t have any specific experience here. This may be a valid complaint.

    Your complaints seem to be about the way most people design Flash, not about the technology itself. Saying “Flash is mostly bad” is a non-starter — “Bad Flash design == horrendous for usability” is perhaps a more apt title. Flash is no different from any other web tool like HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, .NET, or even plain graphics. Done well, technology enhances usability; done poorly it breaks usability.

    October 28, 2007

  5. Josh Walsh

    @Domenic:

    Your points are all valid. Flash as a technology is not bad. In fact, there aren’t bad technologies, only bad implementations of the technology. I pointed that out a few times through the post, but your comment helps me make that point clearer, thanks for your thoughts.

    October 28, 2007

  6. Paul W

    Nice article. I agree, most flash implimentations on the web today are bad. Addressing the valid user experience issues you list requires greater skill and effort than most flash developers seem to posses and/or apply. Perhaps it is like swimming upstream, a fish can do it, it is just harder.

    Paul W

    November 8, 2007

  7. Jeremy Walsh

    I enjoyed reading this article, and will be sure to get around to reading more. My apologies for the delay – I know I told you I’d read it a while ago but I wanted you to know that I enjoyed it and will keep checking for updates.

    I can see that a lot of wisdom was put into this article and I totally agree with it. I particularly enjoyed when you said flash takes on characteristics more like television and less like the internet, being that it’s not as interactive. As you may know (being that you know me personally :-D ) I am very passionate about providing systems with easy navigation, straight forward layouts, and ease of interactivity, as I’m pretty sure you are as well.

    I will be sure to keep this article handy and in mind. Thanks for showing it to me!

    January 10, 2008

  8. The Death of Flash | severelimitation.com

    [...] will make it no secret that I am not fond of Flash, and a lot has been written on the web fro many years about the subject. I will not comment on weather or not Flash is good or bad, but I will say that I [...]

    March 31, 2008

  9. Richard Jahmarkt

    I totally agree. Flash is WAY overused! Still, can’t argue with their market penetration:
    http://www.statowl.com/flash.php
    As long as it is deployed intelligently, it can be a very useful development tool.

    March 2, 2009

  10. Why I Don’t Like Flash | TRIGGERS & SPARKS

    [...] as they are, there really is very little excuse for it anymore. There are all sorts of reasons why Flash is bad: it’s horrible for search engine optimization, it mucks with usability, [...]

    January 14, 2010

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