Selling a flash site
Out of context: Reply #46
- Started
- Last post
- 49 Responses
- fyoucher10
Now I don't think this will be the case 3 years from now when the hardware environment will change and devices will be able to handle anything, even your craziest Flash sites. And I disagree with not having Flash on iOS (but I think Apple is smart for not letting it on). I eventually think iOS will allow Flash, when there are so many web-based apps and Flash games out there that the App store isn't even a factor anymore (Not having Flash on iOS has nothing to do with performance, it's completely because of apps and the money Apple makes from them). However, right now you need to include that percentage of folks that use iOS devices. Websites that you build today really only have a lifespan of 3 years, and that's being generous.
We talk about 99% of the internet-enabled devices having Flash installed, or we talk about how many folks still aren't using a browser that supports HTML5 (HTML5, CSS3, JS, Canvas etc). Or, we talk about iOS being only 1%. But, how many users in those statistics are actually consumers that use their computer (desktop, smartphone, tablet) for consuming info, buying shit online, or using it for being productive (desktop software, apps). Quality of consumption. I can bet you a lot of the people being factored into the large statistical pool are folks who bought a "computer" 10 years ago who also either don't use the "internet" or go on once a year. They probably got the computer with IE6 and Flash installed and haven't updated it since. How many of those users are actually updating their browsers and actually using the internet as a primary means of consumption. The latter is the general pool of users I'd be factoring into any equation for figuring out a target audience.
Look at it this way. How many people do you think own an iphone, an ipad1, or an ipad2? A fucking mass shit load of people. The people that own those devices are generally people who use the internet a lot and I'd put money down that it's well over 90% of them that use it specifically for the internet or email (not just for using it as a phone or using it for apps). All of those people won't be able to see your website if you create it in Flash. At the same time, you want to be giving your audience the best possible experience and include desktop users. If Flash can do that for you and HTML5 can't (whatever the reason), obviously use Flash. If you don't need it to be Flashy, obviously don't use Flash. But you should still build a fallback for iOS users whatever the case (as mentioned above). Like someone has said earlier, iOS is only 1% of the market but 99% all the buzz, which is true and is only going to be more true in the next couple of years. And like someone else said earlier, this is probably for a local hardware store site that doesn't even sell anything.