Why shouldn't I use Flash?

Question

I\'ve heard many times that I should avoid flash for my website. Yet no one has told me a good reason for this. I\'ve searched for reasons and I see many that are not true (such

Answer 1

The problem with Flash is that as a proprietary standard, it is limited and not flexible with regard to community input. Other than IE, it is the greatest hindrance, IMHO, to a mature web and limits imagination and innovation.

A mature web is one with content fully controlled by the user. As such, that user should be able to do such things as go forward/backward in history, adjust the size of their display, or even choose not to have any visual display at all. Content and style should be separate. Markup should give context to content. Flash does none of this, but can be added to a site that does.

So, if you want to serve your visitors a hollow magazine page with video and links, or if you are of the opinion that your visitors should view your content only in the way that you have predetermined, then Flash is the only tool you may need. If you want to add functionality at the expense of progress, then Flash is a great addition to your site. Every tool has a trade off.