The Flash is the software product of the "Macromedia" Company (from 2005 it's one of the Adobe departments) allowing to develop interactive multimedia applications. Sphere of the Flash use is different: Games, websites, CD presentations, banners and cartoons. During creation of a product one can use mass media, sound and graphical files, can create interactive interfaces and full-fledged Web applications with use of PHP and XML.
The Flash files have an extension .swf and are viewed with help of Flash Player which is distributed free through Adobe's site. The source files with extension .fla are created in the development Macromedia Flash environment and then compile to .swf format being understood by Flash Player.
The animation Flash (screensavers, headers, banners) is frequently used in design of a site and Internet advertising as an effective way to attract visitors attention and to simplify navigation.