May 7, 2010

For years, Adobe Flash has been the standard for building rich multimedia web applications and websites. Created in 1996, Flash is the technology that powers much of the video on the web. With nearly universal install rates across all desktops, the decision to build upon Adobe's platform has always been easy.

Recent developments have changed that story, though. The rise of the smartphone has made it essential for small businesses to build websites and apps for mobile, but Flash is noticeably absent on these devices. However, there is one phone that will never support Flash: the iPhone.

When Apple revealed the iPad to the world in January, the company purposely left Flash off of it. The result has been a heated debate over the future of Flash, with many people arguing that Flash's future is in doubt.

While Apple has laid out many reasons for why it won't support Flash on its mobile devices, that's not what small businesses should care about. The issue they should care about is this: should my business develop applications in Flash? Flash may be one of the best multimedia tools out there today, but if people can't load it, does it matter?

Flash does indeed have a ton of pros: it's considered easy to use, it reportedly reaches 99 percent of Internet-enabled PCs, and most of all, it can help you create amazing and vibrant websites and applications. It allows for artistic creativity that old web standards don't support.

Here's the thing, though: HTML5 can do most of the things that Flash does, including web video. Not only is Apple backing HTML5 over Flash on its devices, but so are Microsoft and other companies. And with iPad and iPhone sales going strong, more and more people will own devices that don't support Flash.

So here's my suggestion: determine which platform to use based on factors such as the potential audience it will reach, how multimedia-intensive your project is, and how much future-proofing you need. If you need to build a feature-rich multimedia experience, Flash is still far-and-away the best option. If you're instead building an application focused on mobile devices, then you want to avoid Flash at all costs.

It's tough to predict the future of Adobe Flash, but I doubt it's going to go away anytime soon. However, I also think its best days are behind it.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, rjzinger

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Join the conversation ( 5 )

• Sam Swanson 2 years 0 months and 21 days ago

  

  Flash websites have always been inaccessible to many users and, in general, as per previous comments, web developers have taken this into account and built non flash versions for both SEO and accessibility reasons.Certainly the iphone/ ipad fervour in the US continues to raise the question that "will we drop flash?" but to a large extent the community will make its own decisions, probably moving into HTML5 more quickly as a response, but it is highly likely that this would have been then case anyway as it removes from the developer the necessity of dual development and the duplication of resources in the building of flash/ no flash sites.I would only question Apple's motivation really. It is more as if they wish to have complete control over how and what is installed on their devices and that is not, surely, down to protecting the consumer.

• Alexander Chalkidis 2 years 0 months and 21 days ago

  

  I think you are in danger of forgetting us, the rest of the planet, where the iPhone is far, far from dominant as a mobile platform. And Mac sales are completely inconsequential, even non existent in many markets. So though they understandably are the "in" thing to discuss in the US, you might want to flick through stats for the rest of the world if your website is not simply US centric.

• Thon Lorenz 2 years 0 months and 23 days ago

  

  Adam Johnson makes some good points. I run a web/app dev company in chicago. While the heyday is over I can assure everyone that for the next few years Flash is the only solution for some of the sites with heavy interaction.But we've been providing our clients a solution to the Flash vs HTML problem by using a technic called Progressive Enhancement. Originally designed as an SEO solution for Flash, Progressive Enhancement help you render out your Flash content as HTML (If no plugin is detected.) Basically you're replace the view of your site. The concept is similar to providing a mobile version of your site.If interested I suggest using the Gaia Framework which does most of the work for your when using this technic. I'm surprised progressive enhancement hasn't been a bigger part of the conversation as of late.

• Adam Johnson 2 years 0 months and 23 days ago

  

  I think your missing something VERY important here. You are saying that developing in Flash means you are missing the iPad/iPhone market which is true but you did not mention that developing in HTML5 is currently not an option as it is not widely supported. Safari and Google Chrome are currently the only browsers that fully support all of the current HTML5 features. That accounts for around 12% browser coverage.HTML5 still has a long way to go and right now does not even compare to Flash for dynamic content. The performance of HTML5 canvas on the iPad is terrible from what I've seen. Flash is so much more than just video and I think a lot of people son't understand that.Another thing to note is that all iPad/iPhone/iPod owners have a desktop/laptop computer. They can't activate their devices without one. So they aren't really closed off from your Flash website, they just need to use the system that probably use more often anyway to view it.

• Roberto Baca 2 years 0 months and 23 days ago

  

  This has always been true, though, and it has always been a bad idea to develop a site purely in Flash without a regular HTML fall-back for people on older or slower systems, or for search engine purposes.What's different today is that it's more evident. Sites can still use Flash, but shouldn't rely on it, and as HTML5 and mobile use expand, perhaps the weight of the site can be moved from the Flash side to the HTML side.