Flash: Saviour of the Universe?

Being a kid in the eighties, I used to wear shell suits. They were all the rage back then in the same way that psychedelic flared trousers and afros were fashionable in the 1970’s. Still, nobody wears them now do they? Well not unless you’re a scouser. This is because the fashion world is a very fickle place and changes so quickly.

The web is no different to the fashion world from this point of view. Back in the early noughties, Flash was all the rage. The things you could do were great: Pages would sing to you when you opened them, buttons would beep at you when you pressed them and logos would spin around. It really was wonderful.

Over time, however, just like that old Spliffy jacket I begged my mum to spend a fortune on in the 90’s and only wore for a week, people started to get bored with it and moved on to the next fickle thing.

Now there is an even bigger problem for Flash. What is the latest fashion accessory? That’s right; the iPhone. And what have Apple categorically said they are not going to support? That’s right; Flash.

Still, there are people who are spending a fortune getting Flash websites designed and built. Not only are these sites notoriously rubbish from a search engine optimization point of view because there is nothing for Google to see but they won’t work for the 41 million people who browse the web on their iPhone. In other words, by having a site built in flash you are telling the majority of your visitors, in the words of MC Hammer (who was fashionable back in the early 90’s) “You can’t touch this”.

Now what ever happened to him?



The screenshot above, as provided by our very own Peter Banks (view his blog here) shows you what your visitors will see if they try to view a Flash website on an iPhone. A bit pointless really isn't it?

Also, on the subject of fashion sense, the wonderfully charismatic boss of Datapartners was kind enough to give me a laugh this morning by showing how much his fashion sense has degenerated... sorry... improved since the 70's.