Flash and AJAX in the Spotlight
This week, a client asked me to implement a new Flash carousel on their website. You know the type – a series of “spotlight” images, with links to featured content on the site.
The client was intent on using Flash – rather than AJAX – because of a perception that the transitions between slides would be slicker. To some degree, he was right. There are things you can do in Flash that you simply can’t achieve using JavaScript. Certainly, Flash is an ideal platform for embedding video and creating applications with a high level of motion and interactivity.
On the basis of reduced page weight and better accessibility, however, we went ahead with the AJAX/jQuery option. The client was more than happy with the result – in his own words, it looked “just as good as Flash”.
For something like a spotlight carousel, simple but effective dissolves, slides and even more complex animation can be achieved without reliance on third-party plugins.
