Was just wondering what everyone thought about this - should a hosting providers own website utilize flash with sound, flash without sound, or no flash what so ever?

To avoid the lesser issues - think of how templatemonster's templates are setup and not small flash buttons and the like.

Just wanted to get a poll/discussion going - and please try to think in terms of what customers would want/be attracted to....

Finally someone brought up the issue.

I'm all for flash because I think it makes web sites look pretty, but against the sound. Most of the time, when I'm on the PC, I listen to music/radio and it annoys me when I walk into a web site with sound on it.

I would simply close the window and avoid visiting the site for at least a while, or drop it altogether.

best,

Flash, with subtle sound is a delicious combination to get your message across.

If I ever load up a website, and music plays - then it's goodnight vienna for that site

Simon

I have nothing against flash. If used properly it can greatly enhance the appearance and functionality of a website.

About sound... It depends. While I do listen to music when I'm in front of the computer, music on a web page doesn't bother me very much if:

- a "mute" button is present and easily noticeable
- the volume is not too high
- the tune is not annoying (highly subjective thing, I know)
- the quality of the sound is good.

Music can be a plus if I like the tune.

Hrmn, I wonder if I could get away with designing a Flash based site that just streamed MP3s all day .... oh wait, that would get me in trouble with the RIAA. Plus, I don't think the excuse of "My customer's asked for it" would work either.

Oh well....must remember to go delete sounds from some of the FLA fliles I have lying around....atleast its easy to do

flash can either look nice or spoil the effect, you cannot get in between!

my vote is to not use flash at all except for maybe a small header...

I'm with PHPHOST. A small header is okay. I really dislike going to a site that takes forever to load because of the flash. As for sound, not my cup of tea either, but I guess it depends on the type of site.

I don't mind if the entire site is not in flash. A flash header is fine. I don't like it when sound is played. If I wanted sound I'd have asked for it. I especially dislike it when sound is used for the hover state of buttons because if you move you mouse over the button in order to get to another part of the page you still hear the sound. That bugs me!

If i had to choose anything, I'd choose something without flash. I don't mind small effective flash, but nothing in terms of full on flash headers, or even moderate flash introductions...I think they increase loading time and bloat a website.

Everybody has their reasons for liking or disliking it, and it is certainly relevant depending on the situation.

Flash makes a Web Page look better, But you have to take into consideration the load time. Millions of people use dialup making Large sites taking large amounts of minutes to load. Usually with most people, You have 30 seconds to impress them. If it takes your site 3minutes to load, You have lost them.

I personally feel that Flash can be very effective for getting your presentation across.

In regards to music in the flash, I do not think having the music playing from the start is necessary, unless the feel or ambience of the site depends on the soundtrack.

Basically if your site loses it's atmosphere without the sound....then you need it to complete your site and get your emotion, or feel across to the audience, otherwise, it can be very annoying.

Flash is also something that should either be done properly, and neatly, or not at all. This can be the difference between your site looking extremely nice, or your site looking like you drew a flip book with crayon.

I think FLASH makes for an impressive performance and sets your site apart from cheap template sites. I agree with Artashes about the sound though...If I'm listening to radio on my PC and some stupid christmas tune comes on, I'm likely to close the site right away to get rid of the damn music.

If you are going to use sound, you should have it only start when you trigger it. Not when you load the site right up. Its a pain in the ass if you ask me.

Go check my site out (URL Below) and look at how we incorporated sound into that. Its a simple 'bleep' action, but it sets the site apart from its competitors.

I'm all for FLASH as long as your try to use it in moderation and don't make your entire site out of it. The new 'in thing' seems to be making a fully FLASH powered site, which I usually close before the content comes up. Its usually a good idea to have an alternate page for non-FLASH compatible browsers, or an alternate Quick-link section, because you dont want the use of FLASH to make your site inaccessible.

The bottom line is: use FLASH to make things look impressive, but not at the expense of the whole site!

~Equinox

If Flash is used discreetly it is fine for me. We prefer to make websites regularly and to use flash for multimedia content if it is request from our client.

Flash can have very good usage in Online Journalism (you can see it on New York Times website in Interactive section) It is completely new way of Story telling, but still it is not fully integrated in website. It is used as an add on to classic stories

Flash can be a vital asset to ones site, however there are certain 'limits'. A flash header that is almost 3MB (I've seen a few of these sites around) is certainly going to create problems on the user's side. If anything the maximum size for a flash file shouldn't exceed 500KB in my opinion.

Personally, I do not like flash used on a website more than say a header or banner or ???

Sound ... if you want sound then I would suggest having it as an option the user can play or not. Default should be "music off" but have an "in plain view" button to click to turn the music on ... if the visitor wants to hear it.

I got so tired of all these sites "forcing me" to listen to their music a few years ago ... that these days I do not turn the speakers on on my PC. "Speakers Off" have been my PC's default setting for at least 4 or 5 years now.

Peter