A Flash in the can of worms
If you’ve noticed that the web has recently gone wacky when using Internet Explorer, you can blame litigious companies, software patent lawyers, and even Microsoft for ruining a good portion of the web overnight.
I’ll explain what happened and why in a minute. It has a bearing on the design of your web site, and is one more reason to avoid using Flash and Flash-based navigation if possible.
A case against …
First, if you weren’t aware of several reasons for avoiding Flash on your site, let’s briefly review:
- Flash content requires a third-party plug-in that may not be available for all web browsers and devices (cell phones, PDAs, etc.)
- Pages with Flash objects initially take longer to load than their non-Flash counterparts.
- Flash introductions slow down entry into your site. (Which is why the necessary “Skip Intro” link is often clicked before the animation completes.)
- Navigation is difficult or impossible for handicapped users who rely on keystrokes or software that reads web pages aloud.
- You cannot use your browser’s controls to increase or decrease text size for easier reading.
- Right-clicking doesn’t work the way you expect it to.
- Your browser’s back button generally doesn’t work.
- You cannot bookmark individual pages in an all-Flash site.
- You cannot always select and copy text.
- You cannot search for text found in Flash items.
- You cannot automatically translate text to other languages.
- RSS readers cannot grab the text content within Flash pages.
- Content is generally constrained to a small area to accommodate low-resolution displays.
- Passages of text are relegated to small scrolling boxes that don’t adhere to common navigational controls (such as your mouse’s scroll wheel, arrow keys, etc.).
- Flash objects are not easily resizeable to make the best use of available space.
- Printing pages can be challenging.
- Search engines cannot read and index text, critical for including your site in search results.
- Flash sites tend to be noisier and become annoying when there is no mute option.
- It’s difficult to integrate a content management system for do-it-yourself updates.
- Revising content or design requires a Flash developer to make even simple changes for you.
- Changing Flash content yourself requires investing in an expensive authoring package.
OK, so that wasn’t so brief. I promise that the next section will be shorter.
A case for …
Flash looks cool and has applications for entertainment sites.
Pay up and wreck the web
But a high “cool factor” may no longer justify the latest strike against Flash navigation on any web site. As a web site owner, it’s important that you understand why.
In April 2006, under requirement of a $521M patent lawsuit leveled by Eolas Technologies, Microsoft released an automatic Windows update requiring Internet Explorer users to click once to activate Flash and other ActiveX controls before the usual interaction takes place. The update also visually changes the appearance of sites when the mouse is moved over these elements. Items become bordered by a thick gray line and a tooltip appears asking users to click to activate the control.
The effect. The effect.
This is what causes web sites that use Flash navigation to seemingly misbehave in IE, making users click twice on buttons, menu items, embedded movies, and links before they take effect. Once activated, the Flash elements become usable until a new page is loaded, and then the activation clicks must be done again, and again, and again . . .
Whether the patent claim is right or wrong, Microsoft apparently felt it was better to pay damages and release a patch with annoying side-effects, rather than license the technology from Eolas. Unfortunately, this decision now changes the everyday behavior of countless web sites, negatively impacting their owners and developers, and more critically, affecting millions of web users.
Flashback: It seemed neat at the time
Flash web sites were the rage in the late 90s and early 2000s. They were the product of graphic designers who effortlessly used the Flash authoring software but lacked professional web development and programming skills. Using the off-the-shelf package, entire “all-Flash” sites could be built by an artist without having to dabble in any HTML programming.
The results absolutely wowed clients who enthusiastically, and perhaps ignorantly, whipped out their checkbooks. The growing list of reasons against Flash remained unknown to them until now. Literally overnight, they discovered that their sites no longer work like before.
A patch for the patch
Thanks to an automatic Microsoft patch buried in a critical update that cannot be uninstalled, web sites laden with interactive Flash items have become frustrating to use. For some corporate applications that use Flash or ActiveX controls, the debilitating effects can prevent users from operating business-critical systems.
The backlash from corporate users prompted Microsoft to release a compatibility patch that temporarily restores Internet Explorer to its previous behavior. Unfortunately, the patch is good only until June 2006, giving Flash application developers and web site owners a frantic month to overhaul their sites with alternate technologies or workarounds.
So maybe this time they’ll listen
Good web developers regularly must educate clients against inappropriate and gratuitous use of Flash on web sites, a common mistake. And yet some customers use it anyway (because “it’s so cool”).
What’s cool now is when I get to rebuild someone’s old Flash web site into one that adheres to web standards, implements similar visual effects in something less problematic (like CSS or JavaScript), and is inherently highly optimized for search engines for increasing site visitors. Building the site properly allows it to work faster, reach more people, become more usable, and achieve business objectives better which has a direct return on investment.
The point is that you can resist eye candy for coolness’s sake, avoid this can of worms, end up with a better web site all around, and take it to the bank. Now that’s cool.
Switch browsers
It’s worth mentioning that this problem does not affect non-Microsoft web browsers (Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc.). At least not until Eolas eventually goes after them, too.
