Flash Animation In Web Design

There are various ways to make a website dynamic and interactive for web users. Web designers can resort to several scripting languages or can pick from some commercial applications. Despite the arrival of a number of new technologies for dynamic web development, the popularity and demand of Flash design has not diminished much over the years.

In the last decade, Flash has become the most preferred tool for designers for making web animations and interactive websites. With each release, the application has become more feature rich and it enjoys a user base of several million, worldwide. However, the Flash designers need to use Flash animation in the client websites strategically.

o        Before incorporating Flash animation in a website, the developers need to consider the type of the project carefully. There is no use inserting an animation in a webpage just for the sake of visual oomph. Web users have become smart and can segregate websites with quality content from those with visual elements galore.

Flash animation goes very well with sites catering to the youth, trendy lot and tech related websites. In any case, Flash developers should keep a provision for skipping the animation in the websites. Some users may like a Flash animation but some others may find it annoying. Users who do not have a fast internet connection, may not like an animation that takes long to load.

o        Flash designers need to maintain a fine balance between file size rendition and animation quality.  In general, web animations made in Flash can be made at 12 FPS.  Files with better frame rates may look smoother, but the file size will be larger as well.

o        It would be a prudent idea for web developers using Flash animations in client websites to stick to vector images. Flash can handle both bitmap and vector images, but vector files generate smaller file size by default.

Another advantage of using vector images is that vector shapes can be magnified without the scope of distortion. Flash natively supports a lot of vector formats, including the Adobe Illustrator files.

o        Designers can think about breaking apart fonts and embedding them in the animation files. In some cases, the chosen fonts do not get displayed properly in the user’s web browsers. This can tarnish the appeal of an otherwise stylish animation. However, embedding fonts in Flash animation can add to the file size.

o        It would be a practical idea for the Flash designers to use MP3 audio files instead of WAV files in the animations to be used online. The sound quality in the animation can be a tad low but for web use, the difference is not much noticeable.

Web developers can use Flash animation in websites to add interactivity but the file size should be kept in check. The balance between quality and load time should be maintained.