Hello visitor to the Web Tag web design blog. This post is about Flash and web design. What is Flash? What is the future for Flash in web design? Some of the questions you may be asking if you have reached this blog post.
Well, we are going to answer these questions and more; and maybe pose a few more questions into the process.
Flash animation is a web solution offered by Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) a multimedia platform that has been and is still popular for adding animation, graphics and interactivity to website pages, especially advertisements.
Flash was launched in 1996 and was all the rage for many years, commonly used to create animation, adverts and various other web page solutions, including video integrations and more recently to add other rich internet applications, of the sort you may be familiar with from your interactions with your own desktop applications.
In the last couple of years there has been a great debate raging in web design about the effectiveness of Flash. As the old Motown song goes: What Is It Good For?
Because using Flash in website development tends to break conventions associated with coding for websites; and because it can be quite time intensive for some sites with a heavy usage of Flash to load, there can be optimisation and usability issues with sites which rely heavily on Flash throughout the site, or use a big Flash component on their home page, for instance.
Some Flash site home pages cannot be found easily on search engines and when they are found they can be slower to load, and for some people that just will not do.
Considering that a visitor to a commercial site needs to be convinced fairly quick that the site in question is worthy of their patronage, many would argue there is not much point in asking them to experience a Flash intro.
It is better just to create a nice design and colour scheme and tell them via words like this, what you are about and make it pretty quick.
In extreme cases, many people exit a site immediately when faced with a message intro saying the site is downloading, or something similar, and they should hang around. They just leave because they want to know fast what is on offer or not at all.
However, having considered some of the evidence against, Flash is certainly not dead in the water, and is experiencing a comeback.
If used creatively Flash in web design still has a part to play, and with a web designer who knows how to employ Flash to enhance the user experience Flash can work a treat in the right context and for the right visitor.
Put it this way, some web designers have the knowledge of how to employ Flash in a user friendly way in their sites; as well as awareness of other issues such as the cross browser experience: how the site appears in different types of browsers.
Flash does not necessarily mean anything bad. It’s all about what you know.
Functionality and a good user experience are important and for some sites that will require animation or a visually grabbing experience for a specific audience. Flash can play a part in a great website, but you have to be careful.
There are also other options. YouTube and other third party hosted sites are useful for employing specific targeted videos to your site, via a link from your own website or through embedded content.
At the end of the day, good navigation, good design and good content are the key to any great website, along with understanding the needs of any given, specific website business.
What do you think on the debate about Flash in web design? What are your experiences of Flash heavily animated sites? Know any good resources or any tips for integrating Flash into web design successfully? Let us know?
At Web Tag we are always interested in exchanging ideas on web design, so we can provide an even better service for our customers.
Posted by Naz and the team web design, Slough, UK.
This blog post is all about colours in web design. I hope it gives you some ideas for your own website when choosing a web design colour and also gives you a better understanding of the importance of colour in web design.
One of the key and fundamental aspects of web design at the heart of any web design process is the choice of colours.
Choosing A Colour For Your Web Design
How do you choose which colour to use and how many colours should you use on your website?
All important questions and at the end of the day colour is very subjective – so you need to think carefully.
We all have favourite colours and trends change. In recent years trends for colours in web design appear to be quite minimal although there are signs that stronger colours are coming back, a tendency to funky, retro designs, often with a bold display of colour balanced with simple design to minimise the chance of information overload.
Psychology Of Colour In Web Design and Marketing
Put simply a strong colour will grab your attention and can be a very useful draw to a commercial website. Also positioning strong colours in key areas of your site, like red or orange, or a strong green or blue can be useful for drawing people towards a particular location on the site – a contact number or a link to an important page.
The strong use of colour in a brand can also have a brilliant effect. For instance, think of Cadbury’s chocolate and you think of purple.
The AA motor organisation – yellow and black. Easy Jet the airline is another good example of a strong colour in branding – orange.
One common mistake to make is picking too many colours. One main colour with one or two other colours to contrast can work well, dozens of colours for most people is off-putting, it’s disorientating for the senses.
A lot of research has been done into the combinations of colours and also the psychology of colours.
Red is a strong indicator of power, passion and attraction and also red for danger.
Black can mean authority – think of police uniforms or black limousines – as well as mystery and danger.
Purple is often used to associate with luxury or a more sensual experience. Silver and gold can be a sign of success or luxury for obvious reasons. Often executive cars are silver.
Green is calming. It was often used in factories and around machinery so as not to encourage sudden movements. Green colour in web design conjures up a natural feel and is reassuring, although for some off-putting.
Blue can be a cool experience but also indicating professionalism and reliability, honesty and financial security so is a good choice for a mature audience. It’s also one of the more popular colours, generally speaking.
Yellow is a very positive colour which generates a pleasant feeling, the sun, flowers, hay in fields all life giving and uplifting associations. Use of yellow is a strong statement although use wisely.
Brown conjures wood, earthliness but some find it dour and uninspiring.
White is important and most websites use white to some degree. Contemporary, clean, stylish. Truth, purity and honesty. Just some of the qualities of white.
Grey is associated with authority and reliability, not being flash but conservative and mature, but for some it can be dull and lacking personality.
Fragility and sensitivity can be seen in pink, especially lighter pink and also white. Pink is also stereotypically associated with femininity and can also be a very calming colour. Think Pink is a slogan amongst rock climbers when they need to remain calm.
Web designers need to think very carefully about their use of colour and the markets they are hoping to connect with.
Cultural Differences Related To Colour
Web design colour choices can be cultural. What is Ok for web design in the US may not be good for web design in the UK, for instance. Why not take a look at some different sites? and see if you can spot any trends in web design colours. In the UK and generally speaking through western eyes red is a strong indicator of power and passion although it means good luck and celebration in China.
So you have to think about your markets. Is your market partly overseas or just UK based? Have a good think about colours.
Pick Your Colours Carefully
One thing is for sure, the importance of colour cannot be underestimated in graphic design and web design because much of your immediate and ongoing reaction to a site design will be based on the colours and your personal association to them.
If you are a web designer choosing colour or someone employing a web designer and thinking about the colour of your site – why not think about your own reactions to different colours and discuss with others in the context of what you want to achieve with your site?
“E-commerce is having a huge impact on the way we do business. It can lead to dramatic growth in trade, increase markets, improve efficiency and effectiveness and can transform business processes.”
That’s not us talking, that’s the Office for National statistics, who have been tracking the enormous growth of web commerce over the last decade.
The increase in the amount of money being spent and being earned online continues to astound analysts and defy anyone who dares to suggest that Internet retailing, e-commerce, buying online, internet usage; whatever you want to call it, is reaching anywhere near its peak.
In 2008, according to the Office for National Statistics, Internet sales represented 9.8 per cent of the value of all sales of UK non-financial sector businesses. This was up from 7.7 per cent in 2007.
The value of these sales rose to £222.9bn in 2008, an increase of 36.6 per cent from the 2007 figure of £163.2bn. Sales consisted of £104.7bn website sales and £118.2bn EDI – Electronic Data Interchange – sales over the Internet.
With similar levels of increases year on, year on, for Xmas sales online being also part of the picture the good news is that the increase in Internet sales is expected to continue into the near and mid-term future. The sky is really the limit.
Also, if the take up of broadband continues to progress then the sky really is the limit sooner than many people have previously thought, for the amount of business likely to be done online.
Latest research from media analyst firm Forrester Research suggests, in fact, double digit growth over the next five years.
Online retail in the UK will enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 10 per cent over the next five years to reach a value of £36bn by 2015, according to figures from Forrester Research.
It’s also worth noting that the picture of good times for e-commerce traders is as true for local traditional companies and services as it is for e-tailers and e-commerce merchants who are looking to sell their wares nationwide or globally.
The fact is that the Internet has ushered in a revolution in the way that companies can do business, maximise sales, increase sales at lower costs to customers and create closer contacts with customers, including developing a greater understanding of what customers want.
Websites and effective web design also allows companies of all shapes and sized to market themselves cost-effectively on a level playing field; and often very cheaply, in terms of a small website, but with amazing potential results in terms of the potential reach of any given professionally produced website, allowing companies to constantly update and develop their branding, PR and marketing to customers 24-7.
It’s also apparent from numerous research that businesses who are doing well are often those who are online and using the internet effectively.
All of which means that it’s as clear as a bell that if you are any type of business at all, whether a retailer, someone offering business services, a sole trader, a co-operative, a partnership or a limited company – and you do not have a website – then you should be making it a number one priority if you want to grow your business!
We’d be glad to help.
Best wishes
Naz and the web designer team – Web Tag, Slough, UK.
