Apple Didn’t Kill Flash, HTML5 Did
Yes, there are a million sites and articles that will explain this a lot better than me, but then there are idiots like Christina Warren at Mashable that say stupid things, and annoy the heck out of me, so to save me from responding to individual tweets, I might as well rant a little here.
It pretty much comes down to this…
- Can designers/developers create experiences like they do in Flash? If you want a frakn HTML5 video site, fine, go for it. But how much more difficult is it for the average Flash designer/developer, currently, and in the near future, to create an experience with the ease and level of control that Flash gives them? I’m thinking it’s pretty fucking hard.
- Again, from a user experience point of view, for all the demonstration sites that showcase the wonders of HTML5, it still sucks balls in its capability in comparison to Flash, and I really don’t think that’ll change anytime soon.
- Flash is everywhere. I can’t be bothered finding the numbers, but it is everywhere. You are NOT offering the “best browsing experience”, Steve Jobs [you douchebag], if you do not support Flash on your devices. Nor can you expect everyone to magically convert their sites into HTML5 overnight. Don’t go preaching your “it’s the right thing to do” bullshit, think about the users IN THE TRANSITION PERIOD
I am not saying Flash will never die. It could. What about in the meantime though? HTML5’s capability is at best, limited, and until [if ever] it gets there, from an end user and designer/developer point of view, it’s just crazy to declare it dead, and not support it.
Don’t even get me started on Jobs’ stance on cross-platform development… *reaches for the nearest bottle of rum*
c0up 
"Can designers/developers create experiences like they do in Flash?"Using javascript, I can create _any_ user interface that is possible with Flash, that will be faster, more responsive and less obtrusive."Again, from a user experience point of view"Flash is as usable as the programmer intends it to be. And mostly it isn’t very ‘intuitive’, and brings about the term ‘mystery meat navigation’"Flash is everywhere."So is smoking, but that doesn’t make it right.Grant
"Using javascript, I can create _any_ user interface that is possible with Flash, that will be faster, more responsive and less obtrusive" Seriously?! Wow, I’m sorry, but I’m going to respectfully, completely disagree with you there. Nothing personal, I just can’t see that being the case!"So is smoking, but that doesn’t make it right."Yeh, ok, it might not be the RIGHT thing, but considering the alternatives at the moment [i.e. none], I feel it should be supported.Anyway, seriously, I’m going to go drinking.
Totally agree with your post. Flash is not dead, nor will it be in the future. I love it that html5 is getting some publicity, but it is NOWHERE near the level it needs to be to knock Flash off. Flash will be around for a long time.@grant I love JavaScript, I would say I’m a passionate Javascript coder, however the project I’m currently working on could not have been done in JavaScript. Most things can be done in JS, but Flash just steps it up a level in many ways.
Great Post! It really irks me that Jobs is so arrogant to not care about the people in the transition state! As much as us Front-End Devs don’t like it, IE still has a large portion of the browser market, and we need to cater for it. @grant please create me "_any_ user interface that is possible with Flash" that works in IE? With terrible support of HTML5/CSS3 Standards, we are going to _need_ Flash for a long time, while IE catches up with the rest. (hopefully that is soon)
Thanks for the comments/discussion, guys!And to @franksting’s tweets [god it’s annoying how this can’t all just be aggregated >.<]: ".. What I mean is the customer doesn’t really care about tech used to create the content and theiPhone has stimulated move from Flash. Personally, I ‘never’ see blue boxes on sites anymore and the apps I need work fine"Fair point to some extent, but that’s purely mobile focused and somewhat related to your browsing patterns, and using apps to fill in the gaps, well, I guess that’s sadly the way mobile is headed [or already ended up at]? But yes, most browsing is non-mobile.