You are right some people like flash some dont .. a completed flash site I designed look at
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Personally a photo gallary in flash will look very nice .. flash sites wont work for other subjects...
But if I was you I would avoid photos on your home page - this will load quickly then have your portfolio accessed via button ... which potential clients will expect to wait to load ...
Negative feedback for flash ?? ... people live in the dark ages, dont understand fash or still use 56k modems ! as long as its managed correctly flash can look and feel ok ...
But you could look at Joomla
Joomla Templates and phpBB3 Styles - RocketTheme the themes or templates look nice and you do have full control over it ... no deveoper fees to pay ....
Regards
Darren