What Is The Future of Flash in Web Design?
Flash has always had its place at the table.
But is there any future for Flash in web design?
We asked our Crazy Egg Web Design Experts what they think about the future of Flash in designing websites.
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I avoid using Flash in designs. I can’t remember the last time that Flash was the best tool to display content for a project I was working on. With the exception of very unusual use cases, I don’t imagine there to be much of a future for Flash in web design. My projects typically need to be ultra-accessible and viewed on mobile devices, and Flash just doesn’t cut it.
~ Lara Swanson, Dyn
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The death knell is ringing for Flash. Lack of support for the iPhone/iPad coupled with increased browsing from mobile devices and the eventual cross-browser implementation of HTML5 will make it irrelevant. And as a designer sometimes trying to help people update sites we didn’t create, I have always hated to see Flash for multiple reasons: bad SEO, difficult or impossible to update because the client never got the source files from the original designer and lack of support with Apple products.
~ Sue Spencer, Spencer Web Design
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With the influx of mobile devices, I see flash being used on the web less and less. Apple is a major player in the mobile arena, and doesn’t currently support it. Still, there are plenty of flash games available for gaming and entertainment so I don’t see it being eliminated completely anytime soon.
~ Stephanie Hamilton, Stephanie Hamilton Design
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I just got back from Adobe’s annual MAX 2011 Conference. And although Adobe is making great strides to have products that engage HTML5, Flash is still a big player in web design. Per my experience and direct involvement with Adobe, the future of Flash is within interactive web applications and gaming.
Video, animation, and robust multi-platform interfaces, are perfectly suited for flash. Popular games like Angry Birds are taking advantage of Flash to create a brand experience. Here’s a link to the 2011 MAX Awards that has great examples of Flash technology and where the future of flash is headed.
Our agency rarely uses flash because our focus is CMS web business websites. The need for easy management and design based on best practices trumps the unique experience that Flash can provide.
~Cesar Keller, SimpleFlame
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I think Flash is still powerful, but going to be used gradually less and less over the next five years. Newer flash projects will still exist for specific needs (like immersive games or incorporating video with facebook images on http://www.takethislollipop.com/).
We’ve stopped using Flash on sites we develop. We still use it on some banner advertisements.
~ Brian Schwartz, Spoke Marketing
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What are your thoughts? What do you use Flash for today and what do you predict the future will be for Adobe’s Flash?
Flash is a very good tool to create dynamic, creative and really good looking websites. But it is not the choice of many who are SEO conscious. It is still a great tool to use in web design but the dynamic effects that it can give to websites are now possible with so many javascript tools like jquery. Also, several websites now do not require a lot of flash effects, just a simple js slideshow on the homepage are enough for them.
I’ve been developing websites, games, and apps using FLASH for over 10 years so I obviously have a bias towards this change. The problem is now clients want html5 instead of Flash, just because… The media blitz about html5 has clouded the web arena. Simple animation effects that could be developed using FLASH in minutes using ten lines of code, now take hours using line and lines of code that integrate html5/javascript/css. So how is this progress??
Hmmm… good point Kevin. Thanks for providing your perspective.
Hi Kevin, it’s all perspective. What takes me minutes in jQuery might take me an hour to figure out in Flash. Entirely because I don’t work in flash, so there would be a steep learning curve.
It’s not a “media blitz.” It’s solid technology that’s going to build the next generation web. If you’re not a programmer I wouldn’t worry about it too much, I’m positive a new Flash like tool will emerge for people to migrate to. Adobe wouldn’t let Flash die without providing some sort of alternative for you to buy.
I agree with you – it is all perspective. Additionally, think of technology from end user stand point too. It may take you an hour (seriously you need to better your skills!) but for the end user, flash crashes more often than not and is not supported on mobile that well – HTML5 solves it……
Thank you, my thoughts exactly. “Whoopty doo, we made a simple box move across the screen using html5 and it only took us an hour to code and implement into our website. High-fives everyone. We could have never done this in Flash…. ”
Just doesn’t make sense to me.
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jQuery’s strength lies in that fact that noobs can plug in pre-built apps and get a good looking result without doing too much hard work. It’s good… and bad. Right now we’re seeing a lot of copycat design because of it and it’s getting boring. Kevin’s right in some respects; animating in Flash got awesome in the last few years and jquery/html5 has some catching up to do there.
I think it was expected we’d push Flash to its limits and beyond, but it’s unfair to hate on a technology which provided so much until a better solution could deliver. As designers learn to code and developers move to another platform… it’s just another cycle. Stick around long enough and you’ll see it happen time and time again!
Flash design is a very important tool for website designing
I am a mobileAPP PM and desigenr, we use Flash to share prototypes for project, both desktop and mobile.
But its a current solution, we want to move to HTML5.
Flash has no strengths with mobile environment .
I don’t think we’ve seen the end of Flash quite yet. In the right hands Flash is a powerful tool and can be used to create some truly unique websites and app experiences, plus it will run cross-browser without much work. What it does lack is the mobile support as a few people have mentioned.
Flash still has its uses. I imagine advertising will remain Flash based for some time. I consider Flash more of an animation program than anything else… so it still has that strength.
I am going to miss flash and its powerful transparent overlay effects, I have been using flash since it’s birth but also just like a dog you love it is dying in web design, I will keep using it for communication tool for project development and approval process .
The iTablets are taking over and it is the future and as an animator I have been using H264 codec for all of my work and it is great compression much better than FLV and it plays great on iDevices.
I also believe that all the tools in server side render technology is in place to create the type of effects flash gave us, after all if it is bitmap it can be displayed on any device, the only snag is internet speed and that is getting faster and faster for more people on the planet. This topic is worth exploring.
Java Script is the sister language to Flash AS, with the emergence of JQuery we now have slide shows with some effects, but it is not flash with blur and Photoshop level filter effects. Almost all effects done in flash can be done in Aftereffects and essentially putting up H264 mpeg video is a possibility but then we run into streaming issues and file size. I am doing lot of research trying to figure out how can flash be replaced and what will the Movie and Car makers do instead? Shame on Adobe and Apple for destroying a software’s future in web design just out of greed and disagreements, because the software itself is amazing communication and interactivity jewel. IMHO I could be wrong.
Websites and online design in general have become more and more homogeneous and template in appearance (boring, grid like), with less visual/artistic distinction between sites. Like stock photography or clip art.
Flash is a great way to create fresh unique user experience, too bad Apple has not lead the way in mobile device use of flash technology. Why rebuild the wheel?
For better SEO with flash sites, I believe simple html layers can be incorporated into the site along with the flash design.
idevices will be the death for Flash. So if you want to create a Flash like design in jQuery, someone needs to develop magnifying 3-D glasses so the user can read the text and see popping images.