Flash is becoming an out dated coding style for websites and is generally being phased out on most new websites. The reason for the phase out from flash is that Apple products do not load flash. So if your website is designed in flash and you do not have a designated mobile website, your website will not work on an iPad or iPhone. With the number of mobile searches on the rise, this should be a growing concern for all web masters. Google can also not read flash. So if you have content that displays through a flash design, that content is wasted as Google cannot read it.
But how do you know if you have flash on your website? Aside from reviewing the coding line by line, there are three quick and easy ways to know if there are flash elements on your website.
1.) When your site loads is there a loading wheel prior to the content appearing. If your site has a loading wheel it could be using flash elements. I have provided an example of the loading wheel that is typical in flash designs.
2.) If you suspect that an element of your site is flash try right clicking on it and see what pops up. If at the bottom of the options there is a line that reads “About Adobe Flash Player”, you are looking at a flash element.
3.) Locate any area that you presume to be flash. If there is text in that area try dragging your mouse over the text and copying it. If you cannot copy the text it could be either a flash image or a straight image. Either way if you cannot copy the text, Google cannot read it.
By Matthew Wilkos