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This has been on ongoing issue since the late 90s. Traditional graphic designers love to push Flash because it allows them more creative flexibility. Flash doesn’t have the same technical limits as HTML.

Sites that are built in all flash can still rank well in search engines but not as well as a similar page built in HTML. The reason? Google has over 250 parameters they take into account when indexing and ranking websites. Flash can still accommodate some of these parameters but not most of them. Even with the Google/Adobe announcement that Google would begin indexing flash files, they don’t behave the same way that HTML files do and are still treated differently.

Industry Leader Rand Fishkin (who loves flash) has come up with a great list of 7 reasons why you shouldn’t have a site created in ALL flash. (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/flash-and-seo-compelling-reasons-why-search-engines-flash-still-dont-mix)

1. Different content is NOT on different URLs
2. The breakdown of text (not formatted by importance like HTML)
3. Flash gets embedded
4. Lack of testability for flash optimization
5. Flash doesn’t earn external links like HTML pages do
6. SEO basics are missing
7. A lot of flash still isn’t crawlable

Vanessa Fox of Nine By Blue has given the following reasons to be cautious when considering Flash:

1. Search engines are still based on text, not Flash
2. Even using XML to populate your Flash, you miss most of the SEO benefits of HTML
3. Google can’t index javascript called from Flash (a common practice)

There are also many opinions about the correct way to use flash. Some say not at all, some say Search Engines don’t really matter. The general consensus is that flash is best used as a page element in an HTML based site. Even if you will have the bulk of the content be Flash. This is the best way to accommodate the edgy designers and the search engine sceintsts.

The big issue here is what really matters to companies concerned with reputation management.

To these companies, Search Engines do matter but not for the same reasons that one might expect. The main SEO push at these companies is to get good positive content on the 1st page of Google. They probably already have the top position, but also want the big detractors to not appear on page one. That will be accomplished by building SEO value in other web properties. Building the new company site(s) all in Flash will not help that endeavor, it will hinder it. Here’s why.

Links are widely accepted as the most heavily weighted factors in search rankings. Google doesn’t do well finding links from flash to other sites. The company needs to get its secondary properties to rank on the 1st page of Google for the main keyword (the company name). For example if MonaVie.com had a flash link to monaviemall.com, it wouldn’t get picked up by Google and MonaVie would be losing one of the most valuable links for that secondary domain. By putting the content and links in HTML, they gain those ever important links from MonaVie.com to their other properties AND they also gain latent semantic keyword value by having the page text associated with the links on the page. Both of those benefits are lost in the use of an all Flash website.

How companies should use flash

Companies definitely need to keep flash, but done right. Flash isn’t the only way to accomplish the premium look and feel that they need on the website but it is very effective from a design perspective. What needs to be done is to use flash as a page element that is embedded into HTML. They also need to make sure to incorporate content into the design. Every page – especially the homepage needs to have textual content.

First thing:
I won the ultimate weight loss challenge. Finally! Even though I had to pair up with my wife to be able to win, we still won. And that is what counts right? OK seriously, I actually did lose some weight. I haven’t weighed this little since I worked for PDC in 2000. So since we had the weigh-in last night, I thougt it would be good to remind myself what a full stomach feels like. Yeah, it wasn’t that great. I used to really like eating just a little more than my stomach wanted me to. But I actually felt slugish and grumpy afterward. Didn’t sleep well last night either, not til it was time to get up and go to the gym at least. So I got up late and decided that I might as well go so I could weigh myself. Didn’t gain as much as I expected though. That was nice. And it felt really good to get the ol’ heart rate up there for a while. Makes me want to get serious about this fitness stuff. Hmmm, yeah, I think I will.

Second thing:
I’ve about had it with all this CSS web 2.0 crap. Sure I can buy into the idea that it’s good to seperate the design from the content. And I can agree that CSS is the best thing to happen to the web since sliced bread. But I’ve heard way tooooo often that the <table> tag is not meant for layout and that it should only be used to display tabular data. And that using <div>’s and CSS to do it all for you is going to make your footprint smaller. WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!!! Ok, just so everyone know I’m not just ranting for the sake of ranting, let’s take a look at an example. Let’s say you want to put nice rounded corners on a display box. And, not just rounded corners, but bordered rounded corners. It’s looks nice in Photoshop and the client likes it. Looks a bit more polished than all the rounded corner tutorials too. So how do you code it?
In order to avoid <table>’s you need a <div> tag with a background image in it for each corner. You need a CSS declaration to define the sizes of the div and the image placement etc. So that’s 4 <div>’s so far. Wait, how bout the border? border: 2px solid #444444; doesnt’ work? K, I’ll create 4 more <div>’s with background image aligned to the top, right, left, and bottom. Let’s give all our <div>’s a class so we only have to set the sizes once. Now, I need a div inside all 8 of those to define styles of the content of the box. So lets say that we don’t need any <div>’s outside of these 9 divs for the sake of simplicity (can we really call it simplicity?). K we actualy need another <div> to be able to place this whole thing whereever we want. (yes, I realize that we could actually just add more styles to the first <div> that sets the top border but I prefer to keep things organized. That is supposed to be the whole point of this right?) Here’s the code for what we have done so far. Now I wonder how much code we’ll end up with if we were to use the old school method with <table>’s. Perhaps CSS and <div> tags are not the best way to seperate the content from the design. Perhaps the buzz around all this 2.0 crap will go away soon. You know, I don’t think I’ve actually seen a definition of web 2.0. Is it social bookmarking and blogs? Is it that lame design style with bright colors, inner bevels, cheesey reflections, and starbursts? (80′s meets MLM) Or is it CSS and the <div> tag vs. the <table> tag? Whatever the case, there is a better way to seperate the design from the content. It’s called content management. And you can use a free web based CMS like Joomla or a highend, not free server based CMS like Vignette or Interwoven Teamsite or, there’s always the pretty good inexpensive and simple Macromedia (Adobe) Contribute. Come on world. Figure it out. Keep the goal in sight.

his semester I don’t have any of those annoying generals where you have to write one of those papers you have absolutely no interest in. In fact, I don’t have to write a single paper this term. I was thinking how sweet that was and then I got my midterm assignment for my color theory class. A color wheel. Sounds easy enough right? Well, I guess it was easy, just time consuming. Most color wheels have 6 colors. some fancy ones have 12. This one had to have 168 colors. I was trying to decide between a big clock and a globe that I could keep in my office. So why not do both. Mixing the paint is the hard part right? How bout a little visual narrative.

Step1: – 1 hour Preliminary sketches.	Step2: – 8 hours Map out lines and paint first 8 sections.	Step3: – 4 hours Paint next 4 sections. Redo one section.	Step5: – 9 hours Paint remaining 12 sections. Redo one more.

My first magazine advertisement came out today (or at least today was the first time I got to see it.) It is available to readers of the Jan 2005 issue of Connect Magazine. It feels like the first time I redesigned a companies website and pushed it out to the live internet sometime in 1998, yet better somehow. I hope this marks the begining of a continual growth pattern. Most graphic designers are making the move from print to web. Most with much difficulty. Having learned to deal with 72 DPI and 640 x 480 resolution (remember those days?) I find it quite liberating to say “hmmmm, how high should I take the quality of this one” knowing full well that it is only going to print at 300. I think that is why established print designers have more success moving into flash than HTML. They can’t deal with all the rules. I wonder how many web designers are making the move to print like I am. Feels like driving on the wrong side of the road in England. You know you are doing it the right way but no one else can figure it out.

And another exciting semester has come to an end. I haven’t seen my grades yet.
Kinda nervous about one class. Let’s collectively cross our fingers. Finished putting my photo portfolio together for a web class. Funny, I don’t have a web version ready yet. My trial period ran out on my Flash MX 2004 trial before I could get that part done. Once I get the full version, I will create a web friendly version and put it up at troygroberg.com. No really, I PROMISE I will put it up. Just in case you are asking yourself, what kind of version I have if it’s not web friendly, well it’s on a CD. And it’s about 4Mb. Mostly because of the sound tracks. It has 6 MP3 loops that I cut out of some nice background music.

In school, I have a hard time succumbing to the idea of doing a website just because it is an assignment. I’ve done plenty of websites just for fun that would meet the criteria of my classes. So when I got the assignment in my class to design a webzine, I thought, “Hmmmm that’ll be interesting. I haven’t done one of those for a long time. This time, I want to find a real one. Maybe one that will push me out of my comfort zone and make me design one that is less like all the projects I did last symester.” Well, guess who happens to have one. No, not me. My brother-in-law. So I am now designing the new Conservative Front. I have to say, I am quite pleased with it so far if I do say so my self in all humilitude. Keep checking back, it’ll be live soon. Once it’s up, we are gunna set it up to run via MySQL. Unfortunately, that’s not allowed in my class. It’s only a 4000 level class. (WTF?)