Maybe it’s not really a newsflash to you, but I’m relatively surprised. Law firms are using flash much more than I had anticipated.
Admittedly I have a love/hate relationship with Flash. I love it when it’s used in a useful way, but I don’t see that very often. In fact, I can’t think of an example offhand. Flash rarely enhances functionality, and I think that’s my problem with it.
In many ways, Flash is used for no other reason but eye candy. And believe me, I understand: there’s nothing wrong with that. But it seems like the tradeoff may not be worth it:
- Flash and search engines: This is an issue that, for the most part, has been resolved. Way back when, search engines could not index content embedded in flash content. Now, however, search engines can…..as long as the designer has implemented a software package on the server side. Again, not that big a problem, but still something to think about.
- Flash takes a while to load: Now that we’re living in a broadband world, download and load time is less of an issue…but it still matters. I can’t tell you how annoyed I am when I see “Loading…….” when I’m trying to see the content of a web page. This is especially soul-numbing when the object that is “Loading…..” is nothing more than a logo.
- Flash for the sake of flash: I do not like sites that use flash solely because it is available. One site on the AMLaw 200 list uses flash for no obvious reason….and they also play an endless loop of sound effects! This is a law firm’s site, but it feels more like Nickelodeon to me.
With that said, I decided to take a look at my sample set of 150 firms on the AMLaw 200 to see if they use Flash on their home page.
59% (88) of the firms did not use flash.
41% (62) of the firms did.
This is a much higher number than I had anticipated.
Popularity: 5% [?]
