Like any objective writer I must confess my own apathy towards Flash. I resisted it when it was big in the early 2000′s and never put time into learning it. I would be the first to sign the death certificate if Flash had kicked the bucket. Unfortunately for my bias, its simply not the case. Flash technology is and will most likely always be a part of the web. Its not dead, maybe just in a midlife crisis. Flash web designers are in hibernation right now making cheesy site templates and shiny nav menus while they try to figure out what the next big thing is for their future. But it is hardly dead.

Back up a sec, what is Flash?
Let me explain. Web browsers read and interpret code and the result is what you see. Occasionally, that code will reference elements that aren’t code-based like images, video, and Flash applications. Flash is a way of creating design that is not native to the web, but an element of it. Flash is presentation, HTML/CSS is information. In the first part of the decade, it was not uncommon to see companies pay hipster design firms big money to create spiffy, entirely Flash websites. During that time, not all browsers and computers supported the Adobe Flash player and even fewer updated regularly. On top of that, the average internet user’s connection was too slow to make a valuable experience.

But in 2010, all that has changed. Almost all computers connected to the internet are running the most recent Flash update and the average internet speed can handle almost anything a Flash application could offer without taking away from the user experience. So why are fully Flash sites disappearing?

Phones, baby
If you have an iPhone or any smart phone with a web browser, you may have experienced an update error when visiting a website with Flash elements or trying to watch videos via the browser window. That is because until very recently, no smart phone web browser supported Flash. The new Android phones are the first to handle it but are having issues, and the iPhone has yet to catch up but PalmPre, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Blackberry still no dice.  Adding fuel to this fire is the fact that mobile web browsing exploded in terms of usage this last year and more people are using their phones to browse than ever before. Unless the technology quickly adapts to accommodate Flash on phones, don’t expect Flash websites to make a strong comeback.

In a niche
Make no mistake about it, Flash is being used all over the web. When you watch that the latest episode of Heroes on Hulu, you are watching a video converted to Flash. When you try to shoot the mouse with your cursor in that sucker bait banner ad, you are interacting with a Flash website. And when you are visiting a site that uses a non-web standard font all over, you are seeing a Flash font component. Flash is not dead, it is has simply become a niche. Reverting back to the analogy of American culture, Flash is living out a very common cycle. Take metal music. It made its biggest splash in the early-80′s and then settled down into its niche market. It will never go away, but it will never stand out in the music scene like it did for a few years during the Reagan Administration. Flash has had its big burst, now it is settling in.

User experience
As the internet matures, we are realizing what the important things are. Basically, user experience dominates. You create a website to sell something or to move people and if the average user has a hard time finding and using your site, then you lose big points.  I can’t explain it, but Flash websites are typically all over the place and the navigation options can be clumsy or cheesy but never in between. Adding to this point, Flash sites that are viewed in browsers with atypical display settings look like a 3D movie without the glasses. More than once, a Flash site has made me sea sick. I am no user experience engineer, but I’m pretty sure motion sickness is not a goal of a website owner.

So what?
To answer the title, Flash is not dead, but Flash websites are. As a leader of an organization looking for a cheap web option, I would suggest looking to a cheap CMS or making budget room to hire a designer that will think through this stuff for you. The technology has created a market where a great looking, effective website is more affordable than ever.