Despite the evolution of Silverlight and HTML5, Flash continues to bask in the light due to its flexibility and rich media elements. Of course, with the help of Flash design you can create an interactive website and attract online audience, but unlike CMSs like WordPress which is only good for blogs and portfolio design, Flash can be used to design any type of website, including e-commerce.

Every year, new Flash design concepts and trends come up that help designers reflect their ideas on website layouts. This article discusses some of the popular Flash trends:

Clean Style and Grid- Minimalism now defines a quality web design. A clean Flash website looks elegant and adds value to the products and services you offer. Using subtle animation, white space, grid, clear and easily readable typography, less content and colors, you can design a beautiful Flash site.

Rich Typography- Owing to popularity of grid based layout, web designers now use rich typography in websites. The days of safe fonts like Verdana, Arial and Tahoma is over. If you really want to give your Flash site a different look, use uncommon fonts.

Large Graphics- Large images help you seek immediate attention. If you sell a single product from your site, using a large image of that product is a wise move. However, make sure the background is dark so that the picture gets viewers’ attention, and not the background.

3D Galleries- From mobiles to television sets, everything is going 3D these days. Design your website’s photo gallery in 3D. 3D image galleries are perfect for portfolio sites as it helps you showcase your work in a unique manner. The presentation looks spectacular and compels the audience to check your designs. You can design the 3D gallery in the shape of a sphere, cube or wave.

Dark Background- Dark background looks absolutely stunning in Flash websites because it highlights the animation effects and video on the foreground. If you are a photographer, using dark background in your portfolio site is a great idea.

Accordion Style Menu- This Flash design trend gives your site a completely different look. An accordion style Flash menu, as opposed to the horizontal menu, can give your site’s navigation a different, but appealing look. Web design companies can use this trend in their business website to prove their designing skills.

Using Flash design trends, you can give your website a unique visual appeal. However, designing a Flash website is not that simple, because not only must you make it attractive, but SEO friendly as well. Hire a web designer to design a SEO friendly Flash website.

There is a prevalent misconception that Flash-based websites are not ranked well in SERPs or Search Engine Results Pages. But in reality, there are a number of instances of Flash sites being ranked at prominent positions by search engines.

Even a decade ago, Flash design meant a disaster for search engine ranking but now, with Google’s Flash update in 2008, success is possible with Flash website design.

Do not ignore the fact that all the major search engines are taking every possible step to index Flash-based websites. You can actually help these search engines by -

• Promoting your brand and creating useful links to the pages that are the most important on your website.
• Getting your meta tags right. Remember, meta descriptions, if written with relevant and powerful call-to-action, can turn random net searchers into your site visitors. Be sure to optimize the titles of your web pages with the right keywords but do not overdo it as that would be spamming.
• Code your website with as much plain HTML as possible and link from the plain HTML portion of your web page. Select your anchor text cleverly.

No matter whether you are getting your website designed by a website design company India, or by a design company from any other country, bear in mind that a website isn’t all about looks. So, Flash design alone cannot make a website successful, neither can optimization, if done alone. Your site needs to be popular and relevant in order to be successful. So, concentrate on building a powerful link profile.

Of course, Flash adds a lot of beauty to a website, but when designing a Flash website, you shouldn’t depend on beauty completely. Bring some effective SEO practices on board and adhere to the optimization guidelines set by Google. That way, even if your site is Flash-based from head to toe, it will be indexed by Google and show up in search results.

Below are some things to maintain if you want to earn success with your Flash site.

• Navigation should not be hampered by Flash – The better the navigation, the easier it is for visitors to explore your website. The Flash design on your website should not affect the way visitors roam around in your site. Let them move freely and don’t confuse them with intricate Flash designs.
• Be focused on your message – Do not get lost in beautiful and intricate Flash animation as it might overshadow your message so much so that visitors will not even know there was a message. To grab visitors’ attention, you need eye-catching Flash website design and also the room to convey your message.
• Include SEO aspects into your Flash site – Making your Flash website SEO friendly will boost your conversion rate and also increase your site’s visibility on search engines.

Remember, success won’t come overnight. It calls for effort as well as implementation of smart tactics. A successful Flash website should offer more than just attractive designs.

Many people believe that videos games are exclusively about eye-catching graphic design and Flash animation (2D/3D). This is, however, not a right concept. Apart from great visuals, an interesting video game should also contain a good story. In fact, with the help of creative writing, a video game can make players experience various emotions and thus, offer wholesome entertainment.

If you are planning to write video games, you should be aware of the fact that the process of writing involves three crucial aspects. These include developing the plot, creating various characters, and putting together the storyboard. We discuss in details these three aspects.

• Developing the plot

The first step is to create a plot for the video game. To fulfill this goal, you need to figure out the theme of the video game (horror, adventure, or comic), and the characters. Thereafter, you should develop a general plot for the game.

Consider the fact that developing a plot for the game is a time consuming process and demand great effort. However, this step is important because it will help game developers to understand what they are trying to create. If they like your idea, you may move on to the next step.

• Developing the character

Character is a crucial aspect of any video game. If you create characters that are boring and uninteresting, chances are high that players will not have a positive impression of the game. For this reason, you need to create intriguing characters, those that possess special qualities, and interpret situations differently.

Adding humor or quirky traits to the characters can provide them with a special appeal. Furthermore, you need to justify their actions as well. If a character sulks or reacts violently, you should point out the reasons for their behavior.

Try to make the characters interactive. Convincing players that these characters take an active role in any situation will make them more popular. Offering your characters various choices during interactions is a great idea. This will stimulate curiosity of users, thus encouraging them to play the game repeatedly.

• Creating the storyboard

You have finished developing the storyline and characters. The next step is to create the storyboards. Storyboard indicates words, pencil sketches, and instructions that explain every single scene of the game. In most cases, graphic designers create these sketches, after consulting with the writer.

Depending on the story, decisions regarding movement, appearance, and behavior of the characters are taken. The storyboard can also include interaction between various characters of the game. Every panel of the storyboard includes a short overview of every action. While writing, this storyboard will act as your visual guide.

We have highlighted the three main aspects of video game writing. This is, of course, not an easy job. It demands patience and hard work. However, if you are imaginative, willing to undergo grueling schedules, and have a flair for writing, this can be the best career choice for you.

HTML5 is here, and it is here to stay and there is no way of denying it. But is that all for our favorite flash that have entertained us so long with its amazingly exciting platform and intuitive features. Some vehemently argue that the time has come for Flash to call it a day but we strongly believe that this is not going to be end of Flash, it can never be. However, do not take it as a passionate plea in defense of flash, once a great form of art, rather, we are reasoning it out with you all to show you that flash is going to get obsolete any time soon. It stays here and will stay here. However, it is another part of the story, its dominance in the website design sphere might be dented by the arrival of HTML5 but you can sure of something that it is not going to get over run by it.

Apple Is Not Almighty
Apple might have succeeded in increasing its fan followers but it does not have any ubiquitous presence. Its high price tag has put it beyond the reach of ordinary men and that means, companies that are planning to reach out to the common people, would not have any inhibition while using Flash in their website. Apple does not offer any support for flash and has declared its love for HTML5 and CSS3. But compared to Windows, Apple is still lagging far behind and thankfully Windows do not have any issue with Flash so far. Moreover, we are far from being term as Apple savvy and that means there is no apparent reason of pressing the panic button yet.

Flash Has A Charm Of its Own
Flash offers a different experience altogether that is unlikely to be replicated or simulated in HTML5. Obviously, HTML5 definitely has an upper hand over flash when it comes to loading time, but the speed of Internet is slowing becoming a matter of past thanks to a new crop of service providers who are almost ready to do anything to grab a new customer. Flash will not slow down your computer if you are using high-speed internet connection.

Flash design is itself an art; however, you need to know how to manipulate its advantages. On the performance front, HTML 5 may score high but it might fall short of winning the heart of the viewers since it is not half as attractive as flash. Moreover, it lacks the magic touches that are quite synonymous with Flash.

Flash Has Its Niche
HTML 5 may dominate at the end but that does not mean that Flash will lose all its popularity. We believe flash will be able to retain its cult following and it will never fall out of the favors of its followers.

Steve Jobs may be a genius and we have no personal grudge against him but do not make the dictator of the web world. Try to keep it an open platform where both Flash and HTML 5 will have equal share.