Re: Search Engine Optimization
A crawlable site is also an accessible site -- you don't need to "cripple" a site to make it accessible to both indexing spiders and disabled users (including users whose "disability" is simply having JavaScript disabled, often by corporate IT policy, or using a mobile device). Flash is for the birds -- unless you are displaying video, providing interactive entertainment (games, etc.) or doing a 360-degree product rotation display, there is no good excuse for using Flash. (You do know that Flash won't work on the new Apple devices, right? And that a lot of people, like myself, block Flash in the browser?) And tell me -- what good is a really cool site that nobody can find because it never makes it past page 30 in the search results?
Build a site that follows Google's guidelines, and use progressive enhancement to make it dance and sing for users without major disabilities. Do that, and you will not only increase your chances of being discovered, but you will also create a site that more people can use on more kinds of devices. Do it right, and everybody gets the best possible experience using your site. Don't do it, and I'll call you what you are: lazy -- and Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and everybody else will just ignore you.
“Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it.” --Donald Knuth
"It was as if its architects were given a perfectly good hammer and gleefully replied, 'neat! With this hammer, we can build a tool that can pound in nails.'" -- Alex Papadimoulis (on TheDailyWTF.com)