"Thank you so much for the banners. They are fantastic. Your work is A1."
John Taylor Great Canada Exit ExchangeFlash graphics in my view need to be used with restraint.
Flash Banners. Flash offers a whole new repertoire of effects for graphic design. Many of these effects are eye-catching because of their novelty, and the fact that they are frequently less obviously repetitive than standard GIF animation. So you can produce really effective standard and non-standard banners and adverts that are definitely an asset for advertising purposes.
Remember though, that the old banner formats of GIF and JPG are still the norm with banner exchanges and sites that allow you to upload banners to their servers. Flash banners are best used on your own sites, or the sites of colleagues who control their own domains.
Flash Headers. If used carefully, Flash in headers can bring life to the prime real-estate on website pages, in a way that makes all the difference to the visitor's first impression of your site. One of the most effective uses of Flash in this area is as a slideshow of images relevant to the site's content, and this works especially well with travel and tourism sites or with products that lend themselves to lush photography.
The subtle use of Flash in headers can make the site feel "lived in", rather than giving the impression of a deserted store-front, but it pays not to go overboard, or you may compromise loading time of the most crucial part of your page.
Flash Movies. Flash movies can be extremely efficient if there is a story to be told. It's the old adage of "A picture is worth a thousand words", and I have watched excellent Flash movies that leave the information they contain etched more vividly in the viewer's mind than pages of informative text could ever do. These are best used as part of the Information Resources on a site, maybe linked in a prominent way to draw the visitor's attention. Examples of this kind of movie are product information movies or movies that explain the history of a business or product line.
Flash Intros. Flash "Intro Pages" on the other hand are more often honored in the breach than the observance, and it's my view that more and more visitors are clicking away from the long, repetitive, hyped-up Flash extravaganzas that were so popular when Flash technology and improved bandwiths first made them a viable proposition. While some people may be more easily persuaded by a movie, many these days are simply put off by the hype.
Below are some samples of Flash Banners and Header Images from my portfolio.
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