Moving Beyond Flash, With Regrets

Flash iconFlash is in trouble, either in decline or, depending on who you talk to, just about dead.

What’s the Problem?

With the rise of the iPhone/iPad platform, an increasing number of users can’t see Flash content. Apple doesn’t support it, and whether it's an evil plan or a sensible response for mobile technology, it's just a fact. You have to provide an alternative and new development is in javascript.

There have long been issues with Flash:

  • The content wasn’t available to Google and the search engines.
  • The “back” button, which usually takes you just one “page” back, often takes you right off the site.

For years I advocated “hybrid” Flash sites, putting some content in Flash but also key elements in html. This worked great while Flash had 97% browser share. But increasingly it's not going to work. Those days are done.

Eventually, html5 and css3 will come to the rescue. But while these are supported on iOS (iPad and iPhone) browsers, and by my favorite browser, Chrome, other browsers lag in support, so you can’t broadly use html5 yet.

Javascript Steps In

Luckily there are some awesome javascript libraries with increasing power and abilities. More and more we’re seeing great, asccessible animated sites that use jQuery and other libraries. Cool sites we’ve done with this include:

Confused? Great, that's the job of the professional. I mean, sorry! I’m happy to explain it more, and help you decide what Flash strategy makes sense for your website. Contact me.