Flash enabled logoFlash and Usability have always had a contentious relationship. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Flash itself, but when it gets misused, the problems created can be quite damaging in terms of traffic generation potential and user goal achievement.

Flash is great for delivering enhanced content, embedded video, animations and for achieving more complex interactions. It even makes development easier with consistent and predictable results across different browsers and platforms.

Many of the problems its misuse can cause are demonstrated quite nicely by the Manchester Central Web site, (exhibition / event complex).

The interface on the Manchester Central site has quite a few problems, which I’m not going to describe in detail here. Perhaps its most notable weakness is the way in which it limits inbound traffic due to its very design.

As this site demonstrates, the most serious problems arise when Web sites function entirely within Flash from one container page. Taking the Manchester Central Web site as an example, here are some of the problems it has created for itself and its visitors…

One URL, no deep linking

Without support for deep linking, quite a few serious problems arise because all inbound links, including search result links, dump you in at the front door, so you have to navigate through to find the information you are looking for.

By not being able to link to a suitable landing page, this also hinders online marketing initiatives such as email marketing and paid advertising.

Other problems:

  1. The browser back button doesn’t work as expected. Navigate around the site and as soon as you click the back button, you get dumped out to whatever page you were looking at before you entered the site.
  2. Accessibility compliance is probably non-existent. Unless an accessible alternative is provided, users with disabilities are shut out.
  3. You cannot print out pages of information from the site unless PDF downloads have been provided.
  4. The site will not be viewable on most mobile or hand held devices. Unless a non-Flash version is provided, an increasing number of mobile users will be excluded.
  5. The JavaScript loaders will effectively block any users who may not have script functionality running on their browsers.
  6. Site owners are probably getting little or no analytics data on site activity. This is even more important for sites that have SEO and usability problems.

In short, this makes the site harder to find (= less traffic) and when users do visit the site, frustration is likely to feature highly in the whole experience.

Try it now!

Visit Manchester Central site and find out what music events are scheduled in two or three months from now.

If and when you eventually find this information, can you Email that page to someone? No. Print it out? No. Bookmark it? No. Go back and re-trace your navigation steps to find something of interest you noticed a few pages earlier? No.

You may also have noticed one of the other big problems with many Flash sites: non-standard home-brew UI gadgets. In this case it’s a painfully slow scrolling frame, no page jump, no grab box, and no other means of navigating easily to the information you want.

There are other problems with the Manchester Central site: low text contrast in places (bad readability), inconsistent style on active/linked text, use of ‘click here’, confusing navigation with poor sense of orientation, no site search or site map. These are classic problems, not caused by Flash itself.

Flash is great, but use it wisely

Flash encourages creative expression, design freedom, an opportunity to do something different and push the boundaries. This is great – just make sure the result is usable, can be found and linked to.

Many of the problems exhibited by the Manchester Central web site can be avoided by sensible design and it is quite possible to allow at least partial deep linking into Flash sites. Flash content can also be accessible – Adobe provides plenty of documentation on Flash accessibility.

There is no reason why imagination and creativity should be stifled by usability issues. However, always remember that Web sites are used by real people attempting to accomplish real tasks. Make sure that designs work for the people who really count.

For business owners, deliberately losing traffic and frustrating their customers is indefensible.