I saw an ad today about what I thought was an up and coming web design firm. Clicking it took me to Wix.com, a do-it-yourself (DIY) type place where someone who knows not a line of web code can create a decent looking Flash-based site. This immediately brings up two questions? Is this kind of web creation and delivery the future of web development? And secondly, is this a feasible publishing model with an accessible web being so important these days?
The second one is easy to answer: of course not! Flash is limited to certain delivery domains today for a reason: More devices being able to access web content means a bigger pool of potential visitors. Who doesn’t want that?! With Flash support being incomplete across web-enabled devices, more often than not HTML delivery is preferred. With the coming of HTML5, browsers will be able to support video streaming internally, so a more interesting question arises: What will be the future of Flash delivery in 3 to 5 years? But that’s another post.
I think the more interesting question from a web designer’s perspective is this: Is DYI design and delivery a serious contender in the battle for the best web site creation service for consumers? Joe Wannawebsite isn’t really interested in web standards, after all. But then again, is he not interested in accessibility? If he can afford it, doesn’t he want more control over the identity of his website?