title: Is it a good idea to build a web user interface using Flash?
body: <p>the company I work for has a web-based user interface which paying clients log in to to get access to data and control mechanisms.</p>
  
  <p>We're planning to launch a completely new version of this interface, and one option we're considering is whether to build it in Flash.</p>
  
  <p>The argument for using Flash is that it would enable us to build a really innovative, engaging interface.</p>
  
  <p>My worries about this are:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>None of the developers currently know anything much about Flash.</li>
  <li>It seems to me like it will make maintaining the system harder (the current incarnation is built using PHP / HTML / JavaScript / AJAX).</li>
  <li>I don't know enough about Flash to be able to estimate what impact it will have on initial development or on maintenance.</li>
  <li>I fear it will worsen the user experience -- slow download times, for one thing, and it won't work at all for people who don't have Flash installed.</li>
  <li>It feels like overkill. We want to show some pretty graphs, which I think we should build using something like Fusion Charts, but otherwise it will just be fairly straightforwad text and graphics. It feels like we'd be in danger of adding pizzazz just for the sake of it, because we can.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'm not asking about public web sites, but is Flash a good idea for an online user interface?</p>
  
  <p>Incidentally, I know very little about Flash, so I apologise if I've made any horrifically wrong assumptions here!</p>