It will leave a long lasting impression on your websites visitors, and will improve the professional profile of your business. Flash, an interactive, multimedia format, was introduced to web design only a few years ago. It was heralded as an absolute breakthrough in Internet technology. Web designers were soon rushing to add Flash to website after website

So do you need Flash on your website? As with virtually any web design question, the answer is: it depends. Here are some guidelines to help your decision. There are several benefits to Flash, namely the addition of interactive multimedia, as well as potentially adding a 'high-tech' element to your website presentation.

To use Flash, most web surfers must download the plug-in for their browser. It is important to first think of how Flash would fit into your overall goals for website presentation. Think of your target market, your overall website 'look', and your business image. Flash use should be carefully considered and only implemented when necessary. An example of a website that would benefit from Flash would be a website trying to feature a product and a very eye catching fashion. A Flash presentation demonstrating the product could be very effective marketing in this case.

If you decide that Flash is appropriate, a wise web design rule of thumb is to always make the content available via a standard hyperlink, as opposed to automatically being displayed. This allows you to offer the content without turning off potential customers who either don't desire or can't display Flash.