A Flash Slideshow or Flash Advanced Loader allows you to make a lasting impression on visitors to your website, and since first impressions are important, this could offer you the opportunity to retain everybody that visits your website.
With the rapid increase in both the ease of creating a website, and the increased bandwidth that allows most visitors to enjoy media rich content, displaying images on a website has never been so popular or apt. If you are one of the many web developers who is looking to create a striking impression, then you need to think seriously about using either a Flash slideshow, or a Flash advanced loader or possibly both in combination.
When it comes to displaying images on the web page, for many people there seem to be only two choices, either choose just one or two images to show per page, or create a large thumbnail gallery that, effectively, displays images so small that it's not easy to even decide whether they're worth clicking. Having a single, large static image will show off your favourite image in all its glory, although being so large it may well take a while to download. On the other hand, the more images you cram on to your page, the smaller they will have to be.
Including a thumbnail gallery is a popular solution, but the trouble is that whilst you are offering a wider choice and range of images to appeal to your visitors, at the same time you are losing clarity and even, in some cases, recognisability. The images become so small and compressed that they lose their impact, and may not even be explored at their full size.
Another challenge developers face is the fact that images, at high quality at least, can take a while to load, and this waiting around can be the death of an otherwise successful website. The solution for many people may well be to use a Flash slideshow of one form or another. The beauty of a slideshow of any kind is that you can display images at good quality, in a reasonable size, and display many images to the visitor. This effectively combines the problem of both number and quality.
However, another aspect worth considering is the use of a Flash advanced loader or preloader which will allow your images to loaded quickly and smoothly. This means that your first image or two are displayed very promptly and cleanly, without appearing one block at a time. The Flash programming knows to load the first image or two right away, and then load all of the others in the background. This prevents a long wait for the visitor whilst the whole gallery is loaded sometimes the case in many alternative slideshow methods, such as Java or DHTML.
Another benefit of using something like a Flash advanced loader or a Flash preloader is that by having all of your images loaded in the background programmatically, your Flash slideshow is then able to display those images in a more dynamic way. In some cases, people have gone to a lot of trouble creating a slideshow, but the image simply flicks or snaps from one image to the next. In fact, the change is so quick, and so subtle, that it's very easy to miss. It's a little like looking at a bus stop full of people, turning away to look at the timetable, turning back and trying to decide who's missing, who's new and who has just taken their hat off.
Whilst your slideshow may be fantastic, it can be easy to miss unless it somehow manages to grab attention by itself, simply in the way that it is able to transition between images. With Flash's advanced mathematical ability, and the many downloadable Flash slideshow tools available, it is possible to incorporate an amazing array of transitions, from curling pages, exploding pixels, gradient sweeps and angled fly-ins.
Trying to achieve this kind of variety and style using any other method, such as creating GIF animations, would create file sizes so vast that it would be inappropriate to have them on the web page, they'd need to be zipped and downloaded, which of course defies the whole point of having the slideshow. By using a Flash advanced loader or preloader you're also making sure that all the hard work of downloading the images is being done smoothly and seamlessly in the background whilst your visitors are drawn by the dynamic transitions, and watch far more of the range of your images.
Since web sites are far more than simply text these days, and if a picture can paint a thousand words, a Flash slideshow can say volumes about your website, and ensuring a smooth and effective load and display of your images using a Flash advanced loader or Flash preloader you'll avoid the problem of forcing visitors to sit and wait for each image to load one at a time whilst they sit and wait for something to happen. Instead, your visitors will be engaged immediately with visually dynamic and clear content that captures and retains their interest and ensures that more of what you have to offer is both seen, and enjoyed.
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