Flash, Aha? Mar 8th '10

Adobe Flash is common place on the web, ranging from games to fully featured websites. With modern technologies you can can achieve most of the affects created in Flash without using Flash. Does this spell the end of Flash or does it have its place?

According to Adobe’s own statistics, Flash has penetrated around 99% of all desktops in ‘mature markets’. So why wouldn’t you use Flash if it was so popular? You wouldn’t have issues with your users having to download plugins just to see your content or people wouldn’t be put off with viewing Flash. As always its not as straightforward as that.

A bit of background

Flash hasn’t come from nowhere, according to a study completed in December 2000, Flash already had a penetration rate of 96.4% however it was mainly used for games and for top end websites. Arguably YouTube brought Flash to the forefront of the web in 2005 when it was launched. This surge in popularity brought about websites with fancy splash pages and ‘all singing and dancing’ websites as well as the rise of online video streaming.

Fast forward a few years and we now have the rise of Javascript frameworks such as jQuery and HTML5 and CSS3. These technologies can often replicate the affects traditionally created by Flash.

Flash on devices

It has been widely reported about the fact that Flash hasn’t been available on most mobile devices. In my opinion I feel that Adobe were caught off guard by the sudden popularity of modern smart phones and app stores. They have been struggling to catch up ever since. Of course there is Flash Lite which was produced before the rise of YouTube however it lacks a lot of core features needed for the modern web.

Adobe have recently come out and announced that Flash will be available on ALL platforms, apart from the iPhone.

Wait, not on iPhone?

Steve Jobs has come out and announced that Flash won’t be on the iPhone. One of the main reasons for this is because ‘Flash is buggy’. It has been rumoured that Apple are waiting for alternatives to mature, which Safari, the iPhone browser support.

Alternatives being these modern technologies?

HTML5 can play video natively which does away with Flash for streaming video. My hunch is that Apple are waiting for HTML5 to mature, which could be sooner than you think now that most of the mainstream browsers support aspects of it (apart from IE, of course). Javascript frameworks such as jQuery can, as already mentioned, replicate Flash effects without having to use Flash and the SEO, design and usability issues which come with it. As a side note we have recently developed a site which does this for the Clear River Group.

The end of Flash?

I see Flash being used primarily for games and other interactive elements. With more modern technologies increasing in popularity Flash, on the web at least, could be in for a tough ride.

Where do you see the use of Flash in the modern web? Is it a problem that Flash isn’t supported on the iPhone?

Written by Oliver Culverhouse

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