The Death of Flash

Is Flash video and other Flash based content dead?

Macromedia, now Adobe, Flash is going through some turbulent cyberspace.

First, the CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) based design community believes that content and design should live separately, and is thus more search engine friendly. This movement has caught on, and people have realized the importance of search based content. Flash envelopes any textual content within a container which cannot be accessed by search engines. There are tricks around this, but they are essentially workarounds and bandages for the search problem.

The next major blow came when Apple refused to support Flash on the iPhone, and subsequently the iPad which many believed was due to increased processor load from Flash and thus more battery strain. A lack of universal support was also part of the issue, but ultimately Apple also totes Quicktime, a Flash video competitor.

Recently, Virgin USA announced that it would discontinue the use of Flash on all of it’s websites including Virgin Airlines and Virgin Mobile citing increased mobile data usage and problems with universal access.

In a nutshell, the way that people use the entertainment has changed since Flash was created. The things we need Flash to do (mainly to make things look cool) can be done in better, more efficient ways, and ultimately users go through the internet with such speed and impatience that waiting for a Flash site to load now is a complete inconvenience.

Many video sharing sites have now created non-flash versions to support users on the iPhone. Vimeo, a video sharing site for higher-end creative types, is one site that has created this option, which is a move that was quickly emulated by TED and others.

So is Flash dead?

I think it is a fair assumption that Flash is going the way of the Atari if they don’t catch-up to the pack quickly. They will soon be a very unfavoured platform if they don’t change their search and mobile accessibility.

While it may be an effective way of building fancy micro-sites to promote products like expensive sports cars, Flash just doesn’t lend itself to practicality in everyday web browsing.

Recently I looked up a winery I wanted to visit in my travels to try and find their phone number and make an appointment. Their site was entirely Flash based and had no other info. The site didn’t load on my iPhone, so I moved on to the next winery and sure enough all of their information was totally accessible and I was there within 10 minutes buying some wine.

It is my personal opinion that content and accessibility are king in this fast paced world. Using Flash is now akin to a missed opportunity.