Flash is simply incompatible with tons of computer users out there. Out of all the reasons you should not use flash, this one may be the most important because a lot of people on the web simply can not view flash. As a web designer, you always want your website to appear the same to everyone. Using flash severely inhibits your ability to do this and I highly recommend against using it.

Flash is incompatible with many different users for a lot of different reasons. The main reasons are as follows_

Older, buggy computers simply can not handle flash
Everybody has experienced this one time or another. Your web browser refuses to respond and the computer closes the program forcing you to restart. Flash is the most CPU intensive thing on the internet so when you create a website using Flash, you are forcing users to sometimes max out their system in order to view your website. This is not a great user experience.

Mobile devices can not render flash at all
Almost every mobile phone can not display flash at this time. That means iPhones, iPads, Blackberries, Android devices, Palm phones, etc... are going to see absolutely nothing in the place of your flash. If you build a website completely in flash, they are going to see a blue "missing plug-in" image asking them to install flash (which they can not do). You do not want to create a website that is not viewable by the largest growing type of devices on the planet.

Flash must be installed in order to be viewed
To view flash, you must have a flash plugin installed on your web browser. If you do not have this plugin, you will not see anything and you will be required to download it before you view any flash websites. This can be super inconvenient and many people simply do not know how to download and install flash so they will simply leave your site. This number may not me a majority but the number of people who do not use flash and do not know how to is significant enough for you to want to create a website with as little flash as possible.

Websites built in standard HTML format are 100% compatible with every web browser available. If you build a website using WebStarts, that's exactly what you are getting. Any person with any computer or any mobile browser will be able to view your pages and get the full experience of your website without having to download a 3rd party plugin or fear that their web browser or computer will crash. Go to http_//webstarts.com to get started today!