Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What has replaced Flash?

Dal123

Dal123

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 23, 2008
903
0
England
So looking into the subject of web design/ development it seems that Flash is going out of fashion. Being replaced by Css mainly (Only my extreme novice view).
My question is: What is replacing it. Like the banners on the top of this website, where there is moving content.
I am thinking of future projects where I am thinking of having text fly towards the screen in a frame. Or moving along.:confused:
 
Certain site elements can be Flash, but creating an entire website from Flash is dying quickly. Also, things like mjpeg and high quality animated gifs are also being used.

TEG
 
Flash is never used by sites that values usabilty and searchability.

AJAX is replacing flash, as it's way more flexible.
 
Flash has been "going out of fashion" since it arrived on the scene :p . Like Macs.. they've been dead in the water no-hoper machines since before I got one well over 10 years ago.

Seriously - animation., some functionality., some (erm, how to explain) types of processes... (sorry don't know how to explain)... Flash is still the specialist tool that nothing else can quite provide. Key word: "specialist".

What's happening is that some sites are trying to position (even succeeding) themselves as avant garde cutting edge by utilising the specific distinct features of Flash that still can't, at the moment, be achieved with other approaches (and they've been happy to accept the limitations re SEO as a strategic decision relating to their brand). There's lots of ways to be cutting edge on the internet - not just with Flash. The other thing that's happening is that Flash is getting used for specific things ... Google analytics charts within the HTML web page for example (nicely illustrates what I'm explaining)... they had a silly animated thingie I can't find, just now, which was fun... I'll come back and identify it if I hunt it down - it's buried quite obscure somewhere.

Things that are replacing it... ummm... er, AJAX seems to achieve a lot of functionality that Flash was previously used for. Quite impressive the way it's being used.
 
Found it!!!!

They've moved it. Google analytics.. Visitors > New v. Returning. A 'button' appears in the main column at the end of the row of buttons (Export, Email, Add to Dashboard,) Visualise under the orange bar. Click on that and you get a chart with blobs on and a draggie thingie along a timeline that makes your blobs move... lol.... it's great being a graphic interface designer!! Fun info-graphic... how much use it is. That's in Flash (as well as all the other graphical charts therein)... difficult to achieve using anything else... boring info graphics? Well.. the animation in the blob thingie is probably what 90% of games are made up of???? Just a question of imagination.
 
Kelon said:
Seriously - animation., some functionality., some (erm, how to explain) types of processes... (sorry don't know how to explain)... Flash is still the specialist tool that nothing else can quite provide. Key word: "specialist".
Click to expand...

ToonBoom >>>>>>>>>>Flash

Flash is pretty weak in the animation depart actually it's just the standard as most people use it and it "gets the job done" for most new animation styles.
 
Toonboom? Cool. I came across that a while back and it looked fun. I've seen some pretty awesome Flash animations... to look at as the viewer. Interesting. I presume you mean "weak" from the production side of things?
 
Flash is going out of fashion
Click to expand...
The vast majority of "web developers" have no Flash skills to speak of, so most are adopting javascript/HTML/CSS for RIA, rather than investing the time to learn Actionscript 3.0/XML/E4X and proper Flash IDE techniques.
This makes sense, given the enormous improvements in CSS and AJAX recently, and the relatively easy learning curve associated with it.

I doubt that your perception has anything whatsoever to do with diminishing user/client demand for Flash, though.
There are just a lot of web developers using javascript/CSS instead.
I'm guessing that requests for Flash are often met with a list of arcane reasons not to use it.
In truth, the Flash developer community is actually growing, and the Flash platform is improving at a very rapid pace.
 
I'd have to say AJAX. It is amazing.

Edit: Late to the party Consultant beat me by mere hours! :eek:
 
snickelfritz said:
....requests for Flash are often met with a list of arcane reasons not to use it. [...] the Flash developer community is actually growing, and the Flash platform is improving at a very rapid pace.
Click to expand...

Very true, good observation, Snickelfritz. I have a new client who's had a site mocked-up entirely in Flash. It's very nice, pretty, well designed, good job..... however, the bit that actually justifies being in Flash is a small part. He's had a lot of designers telling him none of it should be in Flash. I'm pulling together a proposal for an AJAX site which will include a Flash element... the Flash work needed will stretch me a little, but that's good (being stetched), so while I don't class myself as part of the "Flash Developer Community", I'm gradually developing that in that direction. Flash on a site (when it's justified) and the ability to produce sophisticated Flash is a distinction in a field where there is a lot of "Do-it-yourself" competition.
 
Exactly, Kelon.

Flash might be dying in terms of being replaced by Ajax and of course the next generation of HTML where embedding multimedia is part of the core code and now a plugin requirement, for example. But, it aint dead yet. As a means to add some dynamic presentation to a site, it's a great tool in the developers toolbox. One of many. For those reading this, all I can hope you take away from this is - don't get mired down by one technology, expand your brain and your skills and ultimately your resume' - learn all the techniques and don't "specialize" yourself into obscurity one day in the future. And in this economy, that's sensible.

-jim
 
SrWebDeveloper said:
... learn all the techniques and don't "specialize" yourself into obscurity...
Click to expand...

Well that's interesting. The dilemma of whether to, or not to, specialise has been with me ever since art school (a long long time). Today, I find most jobs ask for a degree of specialism... in Flash or 'e-commerce' sites say,... and as a generalist I find I can't tick enough boxes. While employers who are looking for a generalist are also looking for 'young cheap'.. and again, unfortunately I satisfy neither of those either. Interesting position to find myself in. I'd tend to advise the young to seek to accumulated an 'expertise' rather than a specialism - an 'expertise in web design' being too broad. Regards.
 
Kelon said:
Well that's interesting. The dilemma of whether to, or not to, specialise has been with me ever since art school (a long long time). Today, I find most jobs ask for a degree of specialism... in Flash or 'e-commerce' sites say,... and as a generalist I find I can't tick enough boxes. While employers who are looking for a generalist are also looking for 'young cheap'.. and again, unfortunately I satisfy neither of those either. Interesting position to find myself in. I'd tend to advise the young to seek to accumulated an 'expertise' rather than a specialism - an 'expertise in web design' being too broad. Regards.
Click to expand...

Agreed -- note that I said "don't get mired down by one technology" which was quite specific. I did not intend to diminish "general expertise" or "degrees of specialism". I was alluding to those who aim to become a "Flash developer" could suffer obscurity down the road and might limit their income potential if the client has to hire someone else to work other basic technologies on the same contract. Being proficient at one or two skills is great and a smart thing to add to the ol' resume' too! Thanks for your excellent input.

-jim
 
I think I responded to and perhaps focussed too much on "learn all the techniques" and I've often an odd over-sensitivity to the word 'all'. Being 'proficient in', 'capable with', 'good at', yes expert in the fundamental techniques, or as Jim identifies it 'basic technologies' will always mean a web designer/developer is more employable more of the time. I'm in complete agreement with him.

I've read a few of your posts, Jim, and you clearly understand the industry we work in. Good to read. Many regards.
 
Kelon said:
I think I responded to and perhaps focussed too much on "learn all the techniques" and I've often an odd over-sensitivity to the word 'all'. Being 'proficient in', 'capable with', 'good at', yes expert in the fundamental techniques, or as Jim identifies it 'basic technologies' will always mean a web designer/developer is more employable more of the time. I'm in complete agreement with him.

I've read a few of your posts, Jim, and you clearly understand the industry we work in. Good to read. Many regards.
Click to expand...

Lotsa skilled, good people on this forum - we all learn from each other. Cheers, Kelon.
 
Purchased 2 books on Flash, both not what I wanted!

I purchased two books on Flash, and both of them were on application development.:(
What I wanted was actual animation effects and things like that. As I would like to do drawings and animations, things like that. Can anyone recommend me something for that. In depth developing of dynamic sites is not for me yet, I am only beginning. It would be nice to create some cool little animations out of little stick figures as a beginner project to understand basics of flash. For text flying towards the page looks like I'll have to use Ajax.
 
Dal123 said:
I purchased two books on Flash, and both of them were on application development.:(
What I wanted was actual animation effects and things like that. As I would like to do drawings and animations, things like that. Can anyone recommend me something for that. In depth developing of dynamic sites is not for me yet, I am only beginning. It would be nice to create some cool little animations out of little stick figures as a beginner project to understand basics of flash. For text flying towards the page looks like I'll have to use Ajax.
Click to expand...

I have the old Flash CS3 bible which I'd be happy to sell for cheap! I actually ran into the exact opposite situation from you where I was looking for a book for actionscript, but instead got a book for working with the IDE! I never use it, since I learned the IDE stuff from another book.

Also, if you happen to be in school, I'd see if your school has access to an O'Riley site called Safari E-books, or something like that. They have a ton of programing books online that you can read for free, assuming you can get access through your school. Some of them are kinda old, but there are a fair number of recent titles available.

Also, Apress publishers has a $10 ebook deal everyday. They haven't put a flash book up for sale since I've started looking, but who knows, things might change one of these days!

And if I'm not mistaken(Please, anyone, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), while 3D(I'm interpreting what you said as meaning 3D as you said you wanted text coming "towards" not "across" the page) support is available without flash, its not widely supported enough yet when it comes to the browser. So for the time being you might have to rely on the flash anyways, or some other specialized language like Processing/Java.
 
CSS 3 will add much more animation and styling diversity, once it becomes standardized. Apple is pushing for it.
 
m3kilpat said:
CSS 3 will add much more animation and styling diversity, once it becomes standardized. Apple is pushing for it.
Click to expand...

CSS3?

Kelon said:
Toonboom? Cool. I came across that a while back and it looked fun. I've seen some pretty awesome Flash animations... to look at as the viewer. Interesting. I presume you mean "weak" from the production side of things?
Click to expand...

As someone who has worked with both the most advanced versions of Flash (CS4) and ToonBoom (Digital Pro) *though I've heard Animate Pro may be better* Toon Boom destroys Flash especially in animating.

Flash is more so made for web design while Toon Boom is for animation studios.
 
3D flying towards the Page.

Yeah I would like 3D flying towards the page. Thanks for your input.
I'm 25 and not at school :p I'm getting on now and there is a recession in the UK and money in construction has gone down and hard to get work. My back went at around 20 and I'm really starting to think about things now.
My passion has always been graphic design, but trying to start my own firm specialised in reinforced concrete framework, so instead of paying someone to design a website I thought I'd give it a go. And I'm loving it :p, obviously things that would take you guys 10 mins to do, it's taking me weeks. Still having trouble entering filenames and struggling so badly :eek: but it would be so cool if I could design my own site and possibly start doing it for a living:).
 
gunraidan said:
CSS3?
Click to expand...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS3#CSS_3

Actually, that section of the article doesn't explain CSS 3 very well, but, basically, they're including a lot more useful features. And it's still a draft, so they're still working on it. Apple is pushing for a proposed module called CSS Effects, which can do things gradients, transitions, animations, and the like--and, in fact, much is implemented in recent builds of WebKit (although I don't know how much has made its way to any Safari releases, except Mobile Safari which supports quite a bit). In any case, if even part of this makes it into the standard, it could replace Flash for quite a few applications.

Except video, I suppose, but HTML5 takes care of that--kind of. We'll see how that plays out.
 
There will always be a place for flash, however it is going away. Flash has it's obvious usability issues, however it can be used for games, banner ads, and rich application apps designed specifically to be stand-a-lones. We're actually developing a rather large rich application GUI to be used w/ flex. It has it's placed though, but nothing I'd ever recommend :)
 
Dal123 said:
Nice one, I'm just downloading a tutorial now.
Much appreciated.
Click to expand...

No worries! The tutorials are easy to follow....Justin's addiction to Red Bull always keeps me smiling too!

Another great tutorial out there is an oldie, but a goodie, and that's from Chris Georgenes on taking a pencil sketch from paper, into Flash and animating it. Of course these days there are different tweening options available but I feel the tutorial has lost none of it's charm. Chris is very approachable if you have questions and he's even written some books on the subject should you feel like splashing out a bit more.

Chris' Blog

Tutorial Link
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back