flash intro page,and search engines.

HiGuys i am looking into making a flash intro page to our site just a plain page with the movie in the centre and a bypass link to the site home page for those who dont wish to wait, when the movie completes it sends you of to the home page,
What i would like to know is how these pages work with the search engines i dont want any visible text and i know that the search engines will penalise me for having text the same colour as the background so if any one can offer a solution to this problem it would be greatly appreciated, regards and thanks Dave. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

HiGuys i am looking into making a flash intro page to our site just a plain page with the movie in the centre and a bypass link to the site home page for those who dont wish to wait, when the movie completes it sends you of to the home page,
What i would like to know is how these pages work with the search engines i dont want any visible text and i know that the search engines will penalise me for having text the same colour as the background so if any one can offer a solution to this problem it would be greatly appreciated, regards and thanks Dave. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_eek.gif[/img]

I know this is not the answer that you want - but my personal opinion ( and that of a lot of my peers), is DON'T have a Flash intro page.

When did you last have to watch a 20 second video before you get through the door of the supermarket?

www.quiraang.com

Your answer is here!

http://www.northernwebs.com/set/flash_notes.html

I think the last paragraph says it all :

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>It is important to remember that pages designed entirely using Flash can fair poorly in the search engines. However a hybrid page, consisting of Flash and HTML elements will respond to the search engines without major difficulties. Thus it all boils down to a design philosphy issue. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good luck!

cfn ... Jen
Jen Worden
Web Developer
www.meadoworks.com

thanks Jen i will look into the site asap, regards Dave.

Search Engines penalise you when your text has the same colour as the background...?

Yes, and no. THEY HAVE NO EYES, so they can only interpret code. Proof: they cannot read text that is "shapes" on a gif image.

So instead of using, let's say black text on a black background and get penalised for this, use black text on a background image, and this image, the smallest gif that is possible, happens to be black. Result: invisible text without being penalised.

On the other hand: don't forget that lots of people consider a Flashsplash to be almost as disastrous as a virus on their system.

In my opinion (no offence meant) it is better to have a very fast loading splash, with the necessary text for the search engines, and the choice for people whether they want the bells and whistles or something "boringly" simple.

And, if your text is worth reading (and it should be), you may want to upload the Flash page while they read.

+1, Erik!
Good suggestions, all.

cfn ... Jen
Jen Worden
Web Developer
www.meadoworks.com

Your influence spreads around, Jen.
Wish I could handle code like you. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

Thank you very much guys for all your time and suggestions i am but a beginer and your advice is greatly appreciated, the body of page seems to load fairly fast along with the load seqence that heads the movie. there is also a link to bypass the movie in the main body of the page this loads upfront to offer you the choice,regards, Dave.