is flash too flashy?

I recently met with a client at a local restaurant, and strangely enough there was another web designer sitting across from us discussing a site with their client. It must have been "web design" time or something, as this was during the lull between lunch and dinner, and we were the only customers.

I overhead them talking about flash, and the client didn't really sound like he wanted it, but the designer was pushing it pretty hard. I personally think that this is ridiculous. Aside from the idea that telling a client what he/she "needs" is walking on thin ice at times, flash isn't exactly something that I would be pushing as a necessity. I still don't think enough web surfers have flash capable browsing enabled. There are still many who surf a slower dial-up speeds, and others who refuse to install plugins because they have no idea what they are doing. In addition, some people still find flash to be gimmicky. There is also SEO to consider, as I don't believe that the search engines are too capable to indexing flash as well as text.

In a nutshell, flash may be...well...flashy...but anyone who tells you that it is a necessity is blowing air up your skirt. If you feel you have to have some flash, make it an insert or a widget. They don't call them "bells and whistles" for nothing.