Although Flash is a fun tool to work with and developers and designers can make great-looking websites with animation/audio and effects that cannot be replicated in HTML, I feel that having a Flash website or a Flash "splash" page (opening page) is not necessary. And despite getting my degree in Visual Communications, where I was constantly using Flash and Director (another Macromedia product), I have steered away from recommending Flash "splash" pages or Flash websites as all of users for the specific projects that I have been working for would not find a benefit in viewing the website in Flash or seeing a Flash "splash" page.
From personal experience and having had a slow Internet connection for some time, I find Flash pages to be a waste of time and preventing me from going to the bulk of the website quickly. Sure, some Flash websites are very attractive-looking. This does not mean that I hate Flash and would never use it. I just feel that there is a time and place for using Flash. For example, many Marketing and Design agency websites (and private designers) use Flash to showcase their work, and this is very effective in some cases. However, I would not recommend that an ecommerce website use Flash solely to sell their products as this could hinder sales, and there is little need to showcase this in the same way that a Marketing agency would showcase their skills and services with a cutting-edge Flash site (which is more than likely going to be slow loading or have problems in some browsers).
An article that I read on the subject is listed below with some good examples and where Flash "splash" pages could be used.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/10/11/splash-pages-do-we-really-need-them
From personal experience and having had a slow Internet connection for some time, I find Flash pages to be a waste of time and preventing me from going to the bulk of the website quickly. Sure, some Flash websites are very attractive-looking. This does not mean that I hate Flash and would never use it. I just feel that there is a time and place for using Flash. For example, many Marketing and Design agency websites (and private designers) use Flash to showcase their work, and this is very effective in some cases. However, I would not recommend that an ecommerce website use Flash solely to sell their products as this could hinder sales, and there is little need to showcase this in the same way that a Marketing agency would showcase their skills and services with a cutting-edge Flash site (which is more than likely going to be slow loading or have problems in some browsers).
An article that I read on the subject is listed below with some good examples and where Flash "splash" pages could be used.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/10/11/splash-pages-do-we-really-need-them
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