To Flash or Not to Flash: That is the Question

...although you may well be asking yourself why I'm mangling Shakespeare quotes, as well. Attempts at cleverness aside: when pondering not only website security but also website usability, sometimes you have to ask yourself whether you really need to use Flash or not. There are still many users out there who block or even refuse to install the Flash player; Flash also adds to the overall size in KB (or even MB) of your website, and can be hard for users on slow connections. (Some of those do exist.) Sometimes people are just turned off by glitzy Flash websites. Flash is meant to be a supporting tool for websites, not the entire foundation. So when designing your website in Flash, stop to ask yourself: do I really need Flash to get this done, am I enhancing my website or creating good animated Flash content, or am I just throwing in as many bells and whistles as possible to say "look what I can do!"?