Flash or HTML?
Flash or HTML? A scratchy question which is being asked since prehistoric ages.
I thought about this too much, especially last few years. Is Flash correct thing to make a website? I've calculated advantages and drawbacks one thousand times. I say last few years because, SEO, blogs, social networking madness are regular parts of our lives. I say last few years because, I used to make Full Flash sites usally. You can think that I hate Flash while reading lines below but I can say boldly I'm an advanced Flash, Flex and ActionScript 3.0 developer. Yes I love Flash but I thought honestly. Actually these are not equivalent technologies bu our goal is to make a website. In short our question is; What is the best technology to make a website? Of course I exclude some technologies such as Java and Shockwave :) Only Flash and HTML/PHP/CSS/JavaScript and maybe MySQL. I'll call second group as HTML shortly to make a goodness to my fingers and keyboard :) ...and there is a third competitor, it's AJAX.
We're seeking best technology/standard/way to make a web site. It's hard to find a clear and always valid answer. Each technology is very good on some of subjects below. For example Flash and AJAX might be a very suitable solution to develop a web application but our goal is to find which is the best for making a web site.
Scores are from 0 to10.
| Subject | HTML | Flash/Flex | AJAX |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEO/Crawlers' ability to read content | 10 | 1 | 2 |
| SEO/Address per content, link tracing | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| SEO/Tracing referrer | 10 | 1 | 2 |
| SEO/Analytics (such as Google Analytics) | 10 | 1 | 2 |
| Integration with social networks, ease to share content | 10 | 1 | 2 |
| Compatibility with Ad api's | 10 | 3 | 1 |
| Cross browser/Visual integrity | 7 | 10 | 7 |
| Cross browser/Code integrity | 7 | 10 | 7 |
| Open source/Open standard/Long term trust | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| Open source/Material, framework, community support | 10 | 3 | 10 |
| Free add-ons/amount of components, ease of access | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| UI libraries | 10 | 2 | 7 |
| Content management systems | 10 | 1 | 1 |
| Development/Design software costs | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Development/Design costs and durations | 10 | 3 | 8 |
| Advanced layouts, fluid layouts | 10 | 3 | 10 |
| Xtra viewer/Plug-in | 10 | 7 | 9 |
| Mobile device support and ergonomy | 10 | 5 | 7 |
| Basic animations - interactions | 8 | 10 | 8 |
| Complex animations - interactions | 3 | 9 | 3 |
| Audio, video and multimedia possibilities | 5 | 9 | 5 |
| Custom fonts (or web fonts) | 8 | 10 | 8 |
| Progress bars (preload), content loading information | 1 | 9 | 5 |
| File uploads, upload information | 2 | 9 | 5 |
| Complex, large forms (usally post) | 10 | 4 | 8 |
| Offerings for web applications | 5 | 8 | 7 |
| Integration with server side software | 10 | 5 | 8 |
| Data download performance/duration | 5 | 10 | 9 |
| Protecting content and code source from copying | 3 | 7 | 3 |
| Management of high amounts of content | 10 | 2 | 10 |
| Management of visual styles with high amounts of content | 10 | 2 | 10 |
| Very long content pages and in-page anchors | 10 | 1 | 8 |
| Cache management | 10 | 3 | 9 |
| The content management possibilities for end users, control panels | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| Database integration | 10 | 5 | 9 |
| Compatibility with the components such as browser, library and frameworks | 9 | 5 | 6 |
| Compatibility wit web services and 3rd party applications | 10 | 3 | 6 |
| Session management | 9 | 2 | 7 |
| Compatibility with browser cookies | 10 | 2 | 9 |
| Compatibility with Flash cooies (SharedObject) | 8 | 10 | 7 |
| Viewing HTML content | 10 | 1 | 9 |
| Viewing Flash content | 9 | 10 | 9 |
| Viewing plug-in content such as Java, QuickTime or PDF | 10 | 0 | 9 |
| Client side code execution, graphics and layout engine performance | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| Compatibility with browser add-ons | 10 | 1 | 8 |
| Total: | 385 | 203 | 301 |
We can talk about this for years but as a result I can say you can't make a real website with Flash or AJAX. You can but you can't. I really want doing it with AJAX, I really love Flash but you can't. Aside from these if we consider uncle Steve Jobs' infatuation about HTML5 and his vow to sell an iPhone or iPad to every single organism that can 'touch' on the planet, we understand we never can.
Best thing to do is to use these when neccessary with correct amounts. For example you can make a frequently updated information block in your site with Flash or AJAX.
If your goal is to make a website, you must use the technologies/standards/tools invented to make websites. This is the natural way. Neither Macromedia or Adobe based their websites on Flash. If you use wrong technologies, you simply 'force' them.
If your goal is to make a web application, you can use Flash/Flex or AJAX easily and I think you must but if not, follow the natural way.
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