Search Engine Optimisation

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Comment by Craig Cochrane on November 9, 2010 at 14:02

Hi Ollie

If you do end up building two websites you can always use the rel=" canonical" tag and tell Google to index only the html site. This is usually used in e-commerce websites when you are browsing products by size, colour etc. showing the same information and I am sure you could also use it for this as well see the video below.

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&an...

Comment by Richard Conway on November 9, 2010 at 11:24

SEO tip - www.pureseo.co.nz - The quickest way to get a new website indexed by Google is to put a link to it on a frequently crawled website.

Comment by Richard Conway on April 30, 2010 at 19:24

Interesting article on the BBC website about Flash:

Apple boss Steve Jobs explains ban on Flash

Steve Jobs has used an open letter to defend Apple's decision not to allow Flash on many of the firm's products.

Neither the iPod, iPhone nor iPad can run the software despite the widespread use of Flash technology on websites for video and animations.

He said Flash was made for an era of "PCs and mice" and performed poorly when translated to run on touchscreen smartphones and handheld devices.

The head of Adobe called the highlighted problems "a smokescreen".

'Restrictive practices'

The letter comes soon after Flash creator Adobe announced it would stop making tools that allow developers to quickly translate Flash code to run on Apple gadgets.

These allowed developers to make applications once and then distribute them for use on various phones and operating systems, including Apple's iPhone.

Adobe's announcement followed a change to the terms and conditions of the licence that software developers must sign when writing code to run on Apple products.

That change banned developers from using automatic translation tools, effectively forcing them to develop two applications - one for Apple products and one for everything else.

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that "when you resort to licensing language" to restrict development, it has "nothing to do with technology."

He said it was now "cumbersome" for developers who were forced to have "two workflows".

Crashing Macs

In his lengthy open letter titled Thoughts on Flash, Mr Jobs said the reason Apple did not want people to use Adobe's automatic translation tools was because experience had shown it results in "sub-standard apps".

He described Flash as a closed system and said that it was bad for the smartphone era because it did not support multi-touch systems and helped drain battery power unnecessarily.

He also pointed out that there were now alternatives to flash technology, particularly for web video.

The Apple boss added that Flash fell short on security and was "the number one reason Macs crash".

But Mr Narayen said that if Flash crashed Apple products it was something "to do with the Apple operating system."

He said he found it "amusing" that Mr Jobs thought that Flash was a closed platform.

"We have different views of the world," Mr. Narayan told the Wall Street Journal. "Our view of the world is multi-platform.

The letter provoked an avalanche of comments online, with many saying Apple's restrictions on what can be done with its software go far beyond those on Flash.

Comment by Brandon Wilcox on March 26, 2010 at 12:18

You're right, it's *possible* even though not always done. What I should have said is that a huge number of Flash websites are constructed in a way that deep linking is not possible. I'm tempted to say "most" but I don't have data on that.

Comment by John Maloyd on March 26, 2010 at 12:06

I must disagree with you there Brandon, it is possible to deep link in flash and link to various section/anchors within a flash website, we have done it in websites before. Generally if the designer is well guided and knows their usability rules then a flash website can be created successfully and enjoyed by the users that visit it.

Comment by Brandon Wilcox on March 26, 2010 at 11:47

Apart from the SEO deficiencies of Flash, there are human usability issues too. For a start, you can't deep link to a Flash site; you can only link to the home page. And navigation is often problematic and non-intuitive the way most graphic designers build them.

Comment by Brandon Wilcox on March 26, 2010 at 11:44

I liken Flash to a photograph of a piece of paper that has words and images on it. Google knows there's a photograph there, but wouldn't have a clue what's in that photograph.

Comment by Brandon Wilcox on March 26, 2010 at 11:41

Flash is a disaster but graphic designers love it because they can replicate on the web down to pixel accuracy what they can do on paper. However, a good HTML site with the right sort of photo gallery functionality will showcase a photographer's work beautifully, AND be easily indexed by Google.

Comment by Andrew Haddleton on March 25, 2010 at 23:03

BTW - Do you know of the specific sites for photographers to show their portfolios which overcome some of the Flash issues? I've worked on two different platforms for photographers in NZ and Oz. It's possible to get top Google rankings with them if you set it up properly.

Comment by Andrew Haddleton on March 25, 2010 at 22:57

Hi Ollie

I concur with Richard.

I'd also be more blunt and ask, "Why do you want a Flash site anyway?"

It will cause you more grief, time and cost than any possible "design" benefit you might gain.

And let's face it, most people skip Flash intros.

The only people who want them are designers. :-)

Warm regards

Andy

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