Media: Builder.com reviews the flap about Flash

In 'To Flash or not to Flash', Shawn Morton of Builder.com looks at Jakob Nielsen's assertion that Flash is 99% bad and discusses whether it can be deployed usably.

He gives a good account of why Flash can be treacherous, citing:
- Nonstandard navigation and the incapacitation of the browser's back button.
- Link standards
'Many Flash interfaces use graphics, icons, or cascading menus to represent or display links. These can cause usability problems because users must determine where to navigate before moving the mouse. Predictability is a huge part of navigating any interface, so it’s a problem if links and buttons aren’t clearly visible and their use apparent.'
- Accessibility because, as the Flash code is treated as an embedded object, 'the browser’s accessibility tools aren’t available to the user'.

Morton goes on to look at how Macromedia has improved Flash and the education of developers to overcome these shortcomings, and quite a lively discussion of his piece is also to be found on the site.

Associated Link: Builder.com: To Flash or not to Flash

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