I’ve heard some web designers say that Flash is on the way out.
Is this true (IYHO)? Is it because the ubiquitous iPad/iPhone doesn’t support it?
What is taking/has taken its place for simple animation on the web?
I love Flash and love working with it, so I may just have to play with myself… I mean, play with ***IT ***myself.
I keep hearing that HTML5 is the next thing - and that even Windows 8 will be built around it.
But we’ll wait and see.
Flash will be around; the switch to HTML5 is and will continue to be slow.
Eventually, though, Flash will be replaced.
Yes, Flash is dead - it (Adobe) knows it, but not everyone else does.
Mobile devices are becoming an increasingly important market for websites, and none of them work very well with Flash (even the ones that “support” Flash are a mess). So, Adobe has announced that they are ceasing development on it - that’s a pretty clear message.
Yes, it’s bad. It has been recognized as bad for at least a decade now.
And this is from usability expert Jakob Nielsen’s website from October 2000 – nearly 12 years ago.
All the good browsers nowadays have add-ons that kill Flash available. That makes it pretty clear what users think of Flash.
They all have add-ons that kill javascript too - do you think that’s a clear indication that users dislike it? I don’t think the ability to turn it off is per se indicative of much. Even Apple’s decision to not allow it is much more business based than anything else.
All that said, I hate Flash and I agree it’s gradually on its way out. I hate having to develop with it; I hate having to use it.
Apple officially doesn’t support Flash. Just as Apple hasn’t officially denied the creation of apps for the iPad/iPhone for those who want to access Flash.
Flash is dying but not because of Apple.
Lord Jobs said it’s deader than he is.
True. They just were in a position to be the first major player to come out as feeling they would not need to put a great effort into accommodating it.
I’m like you ThelmaLou; I love playing with it too. I only just started with it last semester, and it’s kinda disappointing it’s disappearing. I have a professor who’s currently re-writing a curriculum to be deeply based in JavaScript and HTML5. I had him last semester for some intro HTML and CSS coding, then some basic Flash interactive stuff. When he started to teach us the Flash portion of the course, he warned us how Steve Jobs had essentially killed it. This semester, I’m in the intermediate course he teaches, and we’re undertaking JavaScript, JQuery and discussing some of the cooler things HTML5 can do.
Adobe Edge is something he brought up in class. It’s still very much in beta, from what he showed us, but he said he believes it’ll become a good authoring environment eventually.
As a user, I don’t like websites based in Flash (I want my navigation!), but it’s a lot of fun to play with if you’ve got your own little storyline in mind. I’ve seen a couple of jobs and internships where they’re seeking people who know a little bit of it, at least, but not many. I’ve got an interview Thursday that wants people with some Flash experience, even though it asks for JavaScript, HTML, CSS and Java too.
Edit: (and zomg, Jakob Nielsen reference!!!)
I’d definitely say it’s dead and on the way out. One of the cool things about Android was that it supported Flash, but Adobe just announced they’ll no longer provide updates for the browser. In fact the new Chrome beta (for Android) that just came out doesn’t run Flash. I’d say Android’s “new hotness” browser not supporting it is a big indication of it’s looming demise.
Flash consumes too much hardware resources, the content within the Flash file cannot be indexed (kind of important if you like being searchable on the internet), and Apple doesn’t support it. HTML 5 can pretty much do anything Flash can, so the world moves on!