If I could marry Flash, I would. I love it so. What can I say about Flash that I haven’t said before? It’s gorgeous to look at. The file sizes are tiny. The animation is smooth as silk. There simply isn’t a better visual format for the web.

Only a few years ago the mere mention of Flash on an adult site resulted in cruel taunts and outright laughter:

“Flash? Are you kidding? On a porn site? That crazy! It takes too long to load! Most surfers don’t have the plugin! You’ll scare them off! Why even bother? What purpose does Flash serve for porn anyway? Flash is a toy, an oddity! I’ll stick to animated gifs, thank you!”

"I'm not suggesting that you build your porn pages entirely in Flash, although you could. However, you can sure as hell jazz up a page with a few little flash doodads."

My how things change. Today, not only does the average browser software come with a Flash plugin preinstalled; most surfers are surfing on broadband connections anyway. In fact, Flash files have gotten so compact, so small that even dial up users are able to enjoy Flash enhancements and animated shorts.

The most popular video site on the web today is YouTube and much of that success is due to the genius choice of Flash as the format for video delivery. Forget Windows Media Player. Screw Real Player. QuickTime can go suck an egg. Give em Flash and they download like fiends.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you build your porn pages entirely in Flash, although you could. However, you can sure as hell jazz up a page with a few little flash doodads. You can make quick loading, sumptuous looking animated banners and buttons in Flash. If you want, you can even save your Flash creations as animated gifs, without having to sacrifice image quality. The vector-based rendering of Flash means that even your static images look cleaner, richer and load way speedier than those created in PhotoShop.

If you were to deliver video via Flash, you’d discover that thieves can’t steal your vids nearly as easy as they can with WMP files. Flash movies don’t have a Right-click > Save As option. If you decide to serve toon animation to your horny visitors, Flash is really your only logical option.

If you aren’t using Flash on your adult website, the only justifiable reason could be is that you simply don’t know how to use the program. You need instruction. You need advice. You need tutorials. You need Flash Developer resources.

Here some most excellent sites to get you on your way to Flash mastery:

Flash Kit
(http://www.flashkit.com)
Toppermost of the poppermost! This is the place! Tutorials. Free downloads. Exclusive articles. Message boards. Flashkit has it all.

W3Schools
(http://www.w3schools.com/flash/)
If you want World Wide Web Consortium compliant Flash, you can’t beat the guides and help at the W3C. There are some wicked easy beginner lessons here.

Adobe
(http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flash)
Whereas, Flash was created by Macromedia, the company now belongs to Adobe. There’s nothing better than instruction by the people that make the software.

Webmonkey
(http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey...)
Ah, sweet Webmonkey. If Wired ever takes this classic site down, I will be inconsolable. Friendly, easy Flash instruction for all.

Cozy Academy Flash Class
(http://cozyacademy.com/classrooms/flash/)
Cozy Academy isn’t the most comprehensive online adult webmaster school for nothing! Actual Flash lessons taught by actual adult Internet professors.

Like online porn, Flash is here to stay. The program isn’t nearly as hard to learn as you might think. If you haven’t got a copy, Adobe/Macromedia is more than happy to let you test-drive a fully functional demo. As well, there are excellent Flash-enabled editors like Swish that cost far less. Visit the sites and resources mentioned above. The access is free and the riches are all for the taking.

You don’t have to learn Flash but if you do, I guarantee you will find the experience extremely useful. Keep in mind that you will soon see Flash crossing over to wireless devices like cellphones and PDAs. As users demand more content from their hand-held hardware, Flash will be featured heavily in the mix. From buttons to banners to video to complete websites and PHP blogs, Flash will rule the future. It’s never too late to learn new things. It’s never to late to learn Flash.