Dec 12 2008
Photography is a competitive market - a lot like web development. What's unique about it in a way, though, is that a lot of photographers insist on an all-Flash website. For a lot of them, the reason is to protect their work. In other words, with a Flash website, a user can't just right click and save the photo. Fair enough [1]. But then they wonder why their site can't be found in search engines.
I've pointed out a couple of times that Flash is a major barrier for search engines. Yes, it's true that Adobe and Google and whomever else are working on this. But until the day comes where a Flash site can be fully indexed by search engines (and I have a feeling it's a ways off even though those guys at Google are super smart), having a full Flash website for a business that is trying to achieve top ranking is kind of like loading a car with bricks and expecting it to reach top speed. You're going to be disappointed. Does this mean no Flash for sites? Absolutely not! Flash is great because it can do a lot that JavaScript, HTML, CSS and GIFs can't. But it just shouldn't be used for your entire site. Instead, use it in ways that add something to your site instead of getting in the way.
1It's also important to note that nothing is stopping anyone from taking screenshots. And for those of you web developers and site owners that use JavaScript to prevent right-clicking. Stop it. Not only is it annoying, it can easily be disabled.