Don't Wear out your Welcome Page: The Flash Intro

Not so long ago, you would see a large number of websites with a Macromedia Flash welcome page. Usually these are visually dynamic and have a high "wow" factor. Lately, the percentage of websites using Flash in this way has dropped. Why is that? When Flash came into its own in the late 19990's, there was a desire to use it to catch users attention when they first arrived at a sites' home page. The quality of these pages ran the gamut from boring to cinematic quality. What has become apparent to site designers recently is that the vast majority of users are not looking for colorful intros; they are looking for content to solve their problems. Thankfully, most Flash items have a "skip intro" link on the screen, but the overall trend is to do less Flash for Flash sake, and to redirect that effort toward making a website more usable and the content more relevant.

There is still a number of websites that use Flash for their entire site. In these cases, the navigation, content, media and so forth are all built within Flash. These sites can be very professional and useable. However, an experienced Flash developer is a necessity if a solution like this is desired.

What is the lesson here? Always look at what your users need, first and foremost. Conduct usability tests on your site and get feedback. If 95% of your test users are quickly by-passing your intro Flash screen, then consider dumping it. However, if your business is video production services and Flash can show users the range of videos you can produce, then by all means retain it. Just remember, if you are considering Flash for your welcome page, make sure it supports your website's goals and that users will actually view it.