Just came across an article explaining what is white space and how to use it in modern web design. A must read!

Here’s a nice article on the demise of Flash. Like the author, I too love flash sites. But there are also a lot of reasons why not to use it:

1. Annoying Flash Ads
2. Not search engine friendly
3. Bad usability (each flash site has its own way of operating it)
4. Not accessible to people with disabilities
5. Downward compatibility issues
6. Overburdening of the developers
7. No or bad internationalization
8. Not compliant with any open standard.

Two extra reasons I want to add, though: Since you need a plug-in to be able to see a flash site (over 50% of the internet users has one installed), you’re reliable on an extra piece of software which isn’t guaranteed to be available. So people might not be able to view your site at all. So reason number 9, you can’t be 100% sure your message reaches your target audience. And secondly, there is no way to enable tracking as you can with HTML sites.

Conclusion: Flash looks good and tempting but only use it as you would use an image, not as a complete site or for critical parts, like your navigation structure.

You can’t read any webstandard oriented site, without reading something about accessibility. But what makes a site accessible? Here are a few guidelines to follow: (more…)