I am writing this post as I listen to Glass Tiger’s “Someday.” (I had to confess. My iPod has quite an eclectic playlist. Don’t worry it is not all 80’s.)

Okay, back on topic. I love Flash. I love checkin’ out sites that are pushing the envelope with it. It is a breathe of fresh air amongst all the motionless, brochure-ware sites that dominate the Web. I like animation—when used appropriately. I even like some sound—not that over-used, repetitive techno loop—but appropriate sounds effects and feedback.

I would love to design and build all-Flash sites! There just plain cool.

But, I don’t.

I don’t build all-Flash sites because…

It breaks your browser. No, I don’t mean it trashes it beyond repair or gives your browser some kind of virus. Visit another site and it will be back to normal. It just causes your browser to feel broken while you’re on the Flash site. For example, your back button won’t work, or worse, will kick you out of the site entirely! That is because the actual Flash content is usually on a single HTML page. Even after several clicks, you are still on the same “page.” If this is the first page in your browser window the back button simply won’t work. If you just came from another site, then you will go back to that one. Forward won’t work either. Neither one are good or expected results.

Not only do the back and forward buttons not work, but try printing a “page” from a Flash site. You may get something out of your printer, but rarely what you would expect. But hey, you’re living the paperless life and wouldn’t think of printing anything anyway—you would just bookmark it.

Sorry, that’s not going to happen either.

You can bookmark the page that holds the Flash, but not the “page” that you navigated to after ten minutes into the site. You can’t even copy and paste the Web address in an email to a friend. If you do, they end up at the home page and you have to tell them how to get there.

Forms won’t be autofilled from your browser even if you have set it up to do so. I could go on, but suffice to say, Flash breaks the browser.

For some things this won’t matter, but you need to know this going into it and make an educated decision. Also, before anyone has the chance to email me, I know that there are work-around techniques to get fix some of these issues, and good Flash developers use them. But, most do not. And where things take more time, it means more money. You have to decide, “Is it worth it”?

It affects usability. It makes the site harder use. You can’t tell where you have been as there are no “visited” links as in HTML. The same-page search feature available in most browsers will not work. It most often introduces a variety of non-standard graphical user interfaces. You can’t copy and paste (although that might be a good thing for some).

It is a cloaking device for search engines. Depending on the nature of your site, you most likely want to be found by people searching for information to which your site is relevant. I am sure this will change as Adobe has provided a Flash search kit, for those interested, but currently Flash content is just not indexed by most major search engines, rendering your site hidden in a dark hole somewhere in cyberspace. There are some work-arounds, but again these add up to more time and money—with mediocre results.

I would love for this entry to become obsolete as soon as possible, but for now, someday all-Flash, someday.

Once you have decided that you want or need a Web site, the first thing you should do is register your desired domain name.

What is a domain name you ask?

Your domain name is your address on the internet. And, for those who just laughed at such a simple question, be warned, this post is not for you. Spend your time reading about the difference between a URL and URI. For the rest, I want to offer some information in laymen’s terms that you can use when planning a Web site.

Registering a domain is done through one of the many registrars such a Network Solutions (the first but no longer the best), GoDaddy and my personal choice, MyDomain.com. The registrar will charge an annual fee of anywhere from $8 to $30. While some registrars have gotten into the hosting business, domain name registration is a separate thing altogether, and in general I would not recommend the hosting they provide as their plans tend to be quite restrictive. Most registrars will offer domain forwarding, email forwarding and the ability to modify DNS records as part of the annual fee. Some offer “private” registration so that your personal address and email are not listed in the Whois database for all the world to see (including spammers).

When choosing a domain name, try your organization’s name, or a word or simple phrase that relates to what you do. Ideally, it should easy to spell, pronounce and remember. Try to get a .com domain name, even if you are a non-profit organization. People will generally try the .com version first. While a dash can be used, try to avoid it if at all possible. Also, write it out all lowercase, running together and make sure it still makes sense and can’t be mistaken for something else (for example, therapist.com).

If the domain name you want is taken, go ahead and visit the site. If the site is not up and running you may want to contact the owner and see if they are willing to sell. You can get information on the domain name owner by doing a whois lookup.

Sometimes the site will announce that the name is for sale. There is no standard price for buying an existing domain name, and unless the domain name includes a trademark, you don’t have much leverage. I have purchased existing domain names for clients ranging from a few hundred dollars up to a couple thousand. Then there are the half-crazy people who will ask for an insane amount of money. I once tracked down the owner of a 3-letter domain name ending in .org. The person who had it was in South Korea. He stated wanted $1 million for it. After a few back and forth emails, he lowered it to $125,000. Needless to say, I didn’t get that one.

Once you have your domain name, keep it mind that it needs to be renewed annually. Also, if you have had a domain name for a while and then change to a new one, keep the old one as long as possible. Some people may still be linked to it. You should have your Web guru set up a 301 (permanent) redirect to the new one. If they don’t know what that means, find a Web guru that does or ask them to find out about it. Another reason to keep it is that there are some less than tasteful online marketers who are just waiting to pounce on recently expired domain names. They realize that with them, they may get instant traffic and older domain names do better in search results—especially with Google. By the way, Google also prefers domain names that are registered for more than one year, so go ahead and register for two years if you plan on using the name for sure.