Macromedia Flash has swept the web every since its first appearance December 1996. We can view it on not only the computer now but our phones and electronic devices like the sony psp. If you are new to Flash it is a vector based animation software unlike photoshop which isn't, What's the difference you say. Well, vector based animation in simple terms means your artwork created in the program when zoomed in or our will not pixlate. Flash is incorporated in many web sites as the years go on. It can be a god bless or it could ruin a site in the search engines. The trick to utilizing flash to its maximum potential is balance. Now a phrase you will want to always keep in your head not only for flash but anything to do with web creation or marketing is K.I.S.S. Keep it stupid simple. Now if you think about it for a second you will get why I say that. How many times have you visited a web site that is very complex or leads you to places you don't want to go or has a lot of pop ups, I bet you you left the site or stay only for a short time. People when surfing the web to buy a product do not want to be confused. Here is what they want, Hi here's my product , why you should buy and buy now. It may sound silly but its the truth. So if you follow K.I.S.S., you don't want to much or else a search engine may ignore your site. Although with the resent Flash 8 release of static text converted into html, I wouldn't recommend a full flash web site unless you either have massive amounts of traffic already or you are a designer showing off your skills and even at that a full flash site may be a little much. Flash is also a very good way to advertise to, you can make ads, pop ups, movies and games presented by your company, etc. Another feature people take advantage of when working with flash is reducing file sizes on pictures and movies. They would load up their media to flash and in most cases lowers the file size around 25%.

Flash just isn't strictly business related either. Many people may make flash animations and games for the fun of it, and if you like your animation enough you can save it out to dvd! Now it used to be that flash was only a 2d program but now with hard work and studding people are creating 3d flash animation. Crazy isn't it, and you can do that to with your own research. For more information please go to http://www.darkace.com/forums for help