Flash is often referred to as if it’s an all or nothing proposition. In fact HTML and Flash play together very nicely, and even without specialized knowledge it is possible to leverage the power of Flash to spice up your HTML sites.

sIFR is the Flash ‘widget’ that has gained the widest acceptance by the wider web design community. In a nutshell sIFR is a JavaScript/Flash tool for replacing boring HTML headings with Flash text, which can be rendered in any font you please. This ingenious technique makes complex typographic control in HTML sites a reality rather than a pipe dream. What makes sIFR so appealing is that it doesn’t sacrifice accessibility or pollute your HTML markup, and visitors who don’t have the Flash player will still see the regular HTML text.

Using the same principle, swfIR allows you to apply a bevy of visual effects to any image on your website. Drop shadows, rounded corners, rotation and borders can all be added to an image as it loads.

While sIFR and swfIR enhance HTML content for visual appeal, one of Flash’s great strengths is the ability to add multimedia playback to a site. MP3 playback in Flash has been possible for quite some time, and more recently Flash has proven itself to be a big player in online video too, as the success of YouTube testifies. Probably the most powerful embeddable Flash multimedia player is Anarchy Media Player, which can play back MP3 and flv (Flash video) along with a host of other formats.

Another area where Flash shines is creating photo galleries and slideshows. Undoubtedly the slickest Flash photo gallery application is SlideShowPro (http://www.slideshowpro.net/), although it costs $25 and requires the Flash authoring tool. Another good option is MonoSlideshowPro, which doesn’t require the authoring tool.

As you can see, with a little know-how even a novice can use Flash to add complex interactivity, multimedia playback and eye candy to their sites, without having to forego the many benefits of HTML.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 3:08 pm and is filed under Design, Design Careers, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.