The web is full of Flash sites, Flash animations, Flash buttons, Flash menus, and other Flash-based content. This is because Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash, now Adobe Flash) is a great tool for creating rich, interactive web content that cannot be created using HTML. Flash's strength is also its weakness. Anyone concerned with Flash usability (and Flash site usability in particular) needs to avoid usability issues unique to the medium. The following are some quick Flash usability tips for anyone developing Flash sites, Flash animations, and other Flash content.
Enable Deep Bookmarking
Bookmarks are an essential tool for anyone who wants to return to a site. Services such as del.icio.us and digg.com have also popularized shared bookmarks, which can drive a large amount of traffic to a site.
Some builders of Flash sites forget about the importance of bookmarks. Bookmarks are designed to mark HTML pages, but very often, a flash site is a single HTML page where only the contents of the Flash movie refresh. Any bookmarks will point only to the main page for a site like this, rather than a deeper content page.
Make the Back Button & Page Reload Button Work
A browser's back button is a staple of web surfing. Even if there's an in-page equivalent, users will tend to use the back button instead. The page reload button is another common tool. Web surfers will frequently choose to reload a page if it is taking too long to load or if they seen an error.
What do the back button and page reloads have to do with Flash sites and Flash animations? Unless the Flash site or animation is created to work with these browser buttons, clicking them will cause the movie to start over from the beginning. Quite often, site users will want to jump back to a section within the flash experience, and will instead find themselves starting over.
Avoid Forced Waits & Repetitive Transitions
Flash is frequently used to produce stylish, attractive animations and transitions. These have a great wow factor, but quickly lose their luster when they make users wait too long for the content they want, or when frequent repetitive use becomes an annoyance.
Take Care Creating Non-Standard Widgets
Flash can be used to make all sorts of control widgets for web pages. One motivation for using Flash widgets is to make a better looking drop-down menu or checkbox. Another is to create functionality not offered by standard HTML, such as a textarea that offers rich markup.
Care should be taken when using Flash to create control widgets, particularly if the motivation is to improve their look. Almost everyone who uses the web is comfortable using the standard form elements. It may take them a little while to figure out how to use a slick looking version of a radio button. Worse, they may not even notice a heavily re-styled drop-down menu meant to be used as navigation.
Make Your Flash Content Findable in Search Engines
Flash movies can be used to improve the presentation of content or information on a site. Furthermore, a Flash site can provide a unique, highly interactive experience which cannot be repeated using HTML. However, if care is not taken to create alternate non-Flash versions of the content in movies, search engines such as Google won't find it, and won't lead potential users to it.