Despite the fact that Flash offers you wider and greater choices, it is not suitable for every site. To decide whether to use Flash or not, you need to evaluate the purposes of your website and preferences of your visitors.

Here are few suggestions that you can consider:

Sites that should USE Flash

• If you possess an interactive website, such as an e shopping or a games site, opting for a Flash website design would be a great idea. Flash designs will provide your visitors with a memorable and rich experience.
• If you are trying to highlight your passion and aptitude for Flash, you can develop a Flash site. You could be successful in earning appreciation of the visitors and enjoy a higher traffic.
• If your target audience does not use mobile phones for exploring Internet, you can create a Flash-based website. The reason is that in some cases, web browsers of mobile devices do not support Flash sites. The Apple i-Phone, for instance, does not support Flash. Creating a Flash site for people who access Internet via mobile phones is risky.

Sites that should NOT USE Flash

• If you know that a certain section of your target visitors do not have Flash installed in their PCs, do not develop Flash-based websites. Do not expect that every visitor would like the idea of downloading Flash player plug-ins; they would rather, move on to other sites.
• Avoid using Flash because it is the most popular trend currently. Use it, only when it adds some value to your website.

The best thing about Flash is that you can utilize it in various ways. Apart from using it for website designing, you can utilize it for creating Flash slide shows, Flash animation, Flash banner ads, and multimedia elements.

However, remember that you should use Flash designs, only when they add value to your creations.

Given below are some designing tips that will help you create various innovative and creative flash banners that are sure to hold the fancy of users.

Keep the file size small: The foremost thing to remember is that flash files should be kept small and compressed. A big flash file tends to make the site heavy and slower. To have your flash banner small and easy to use, it is suggested that you make use of limited colors, dotted lines and gradients.

Use the best font to improve the readability: When designing a flash banner it is important to choose the best font that goes well with the designing. The right font along with its right size is important to make a better impact on your customers. Mostly professional fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman and Verdana are used in flash banners for easy understandability instead of designer fonts which becomes complicated and complex for customers to understand.

Always include a close button: While designing banners, it should be maintained that banners should be always kept as optional. In present days, users do not have time to waste. Always remember that ad banners are promotional items which should not be forced on customers. Therefore a close button is a must in flash banner designing.

Limit animation timeframe: Banners are used for promotional purpose and should be able to attract a user’s attention. But the banner should not be too long that tries to completely pull a user away from the page they are searching for. A custom flash banner therefore should be to the point and short in timeframe. The ideal time for a flash banner is 15seconds to maximum 30seconds.

Include a pause button: The purpose of a flash banner is to promote your company but not to annoy potential customers. Hence there should always be a pause button so that users can skip away or stop the movie clip as per their need and wish. Mostly flash banners having sound should compulsorily have the pause button for user convenience.