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YouTube Begins Using HTML5 Instead of Flash for Default Video Playback
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To all the flash haters. I was a web developer who used started with flash 2/3. It was really great. It was really the first good way to use vector images, and interactive content online.
The problem is Adobe kept adding more and more garbage to it over the years. It became so bloated as a tool to do "everything" it became a pain to use for "anything."
I still use it from time to time out of necessity.
But I wanted to give it a little love.
Oh, and I want Aldus/Macromedia Freehand back you Adobe bastards.
The problem is Adobe kept adding more and more garbage to it over the years. It became so bloated as a tool to do "everything" it became a pain to use for "anything."
I still use it from time to time out of necessity.
But I wanted to give it a little love.
Oh, and I want Aldus/Macromedia Freehand back you Adobe bastards.
Agreed. Too bad that Google didn't have enough sense to rebuild the YouTube app in a VERY similar format as the old default iOS app.
That said whenever they leave out something in their product a third party usually steps in i.e. styluses, floppy drives (Superdrives came along), various adaptors for missing ports, battery cases etc. Jobs not only saw trends, but I believe in the back of his mind he knew that others would fill in the "gaps".
Where are all those people who were screaming for Apple to support flash on iOS? Some even threatened to buy Android devices. It's truly amazing what a few years makes.
Dramatic much? I turned on HTML 5 in the Youtube settings years ago. It's been an option. Now it's default. That's all their saying.
I stopped using the internet because of flash! I just came back after this announcement. So much has changed! My AOL subscription was annoying to restart.
Do people think this is all YouTube is?
Are video bloggers (the really good ones like John & Hank Green, Charlie McDonnell and Alex Day) and channels like Vsauce, Soldierknowsbest and Morph, undiscovered in relative terms?
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Many videos still wouldn't play using this method without browser extensions etc.
When the iPhone came out there were no 3rd party apps allowed. So I don't think this point applies.
I used to follow Lee Brimelow, he did great work with Flash back in the day. But Adobe let him down by incessant updates, numerous security holes, poor performance, the list goes on. I feel bad for him, defending Adobe tooth and nail while Adobe slowly let Flash get phased out by HTML5.
Yeah, Macromedia flash as a vector animation suite was great. Anyone could be creative in it and make interesting animated shorts and games and sites. Unfortunately, as you say, Adobe jammed so much garbage into it, it choked on its bloat.
I was all for Apple signing its death warrant, as long as they then gave us some kind of replacement. But for just killing the already useless iWeb, Jobs' answer to killing flash was... become an html5 programmer? Oh sure, I'll teach my 7 year old a programming language just so he can make a simple animation. Or better yet, I'll pay a professional developer to code a simple website??? No. Aparrently no one is supposed to make their own websites anymore, we're all just supposed to enter our information in forms so Facebook can more efficiently mine it.
Not pleased with this anti-creativity trend.
To be fair, Apple didn't support HTML5 video (and not the codec Google is now using) back then so there was no alternative. Not adding Flash was more of a business decision by Apple to keep flash based apps off of the iPhone. I would hardly call what Apple did some type of righteous decision. In the end, it worked out though.
Look, my comment was honest. But to be clear, I dont consume videos of cats doing stupid pet tricks. I dont watch music videos. So not using YouTube is not an issue -- although I will admit that when they are imbeded in a new article or blog, I may be actually watching youtube.
But yes, I completely de-installed all Adobe products from my Mac so even when the video was in the imbeded website, it would give me an error. If I really wanted to see the video, I would have to go to the developer tab and switch the client to ipad. Most of the time I just moved on and did not see the video. But going to youtube directly -- never. I dont really like cats. I am more of a dog person.
So now maybe I will watch a few more imbeded videos in the sites I go to, but I dont really have a need/desire to go hang out in the youtube site.
If you think youtube is just cat videos and music videos lol. You really need to wake up to 2015. My 71 year old dad, a lifelong DIY home fixit/carpenter guy, watches youtube for home fixit guides. He thinks the videos are the best guides to fixing his house and yard that he still does all by himself.
You really need to get out of your walled garden.
And yet he'll forever be known in tech circles as the "Go screw yourself Apple" guy. Oh well, it was his own doing.
Flash was fantastic in its day. It was the best way to create highly interactive content once for the internet and see it render correctly on all platforms, all browsers and all screen sizes. The costs of production were so low that great businesses could be built up quickly. Until the smartphone revolution it still represented the best way for sites such as ClubPenguin, Moshi Monsters and that ilk to exist.
Macromedia and Adobe were very shortsighted and moved very slowly. The plugin was bloated and their insistence that every version should be backwards compatible for Flash v1 did not help the matter at all. They should have been more ruthless and cut off old content from working for the benefit of the latest developments, you know Apple would have!
The fact that Adobe and Apple could never get it working on a Mac without offering a free bearings kit and spare battery pack for the fan was also shortsighted.
HTML 5 has reduced the need for the overwhelming majority of sites to use Flash, but not all. Apps are a great improvement over Flash, but what a shame now that as a developer I have to write separately for iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry (they insist!)
So thank you Flash, you brought me many enjoyable years of coding and great business success, now rest in peace your day is over.
Macromedia and Adobe were very shortsighted and moved very slowly. The plugin was bloated and their insistence that every version should be backwards compatible for Flash v1 did not help the matter at all. They should have been more ruthless and cut off old content from working for the benefit of the latest developments, you know Apple would have!
The fact that Adobe and Apple could never get it working on a Mac without offering a free bearings kit and spare battery pack for the fan was also shortsighted.
HTML 5 has reduced the need for the overwhelming majority of sites to use Flash, but not all. Apps are a great improvement over Flash, but what a shame now that as a developer I have to write separately for iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry (they insist!)
So thank you Flash, you brought me many enjoyable years of coding and great business success, now rest in peace your day is over.
I don't find it as bad as the version on Apple TV. Half the videos don't even show up under a search on there.
Completely wrong. Coding in modern and developing standards, not requiring the end user to have properietary plug-ins has helped (forced) Internet explorer and other browsers to adopt evolving standards in rendering and proudly boast their level of standards compliantce, rather than properietary code and quirky rendering from browser to browser.
HTML 5, jquery, Twitter bootstrap have removed the handcuffs of developers and many wysiwyg editors exist for html5 animation and site development for novices and those who require a 'simple site'.
Flash had a learning curve, and actionscript a serious language to develop in, hardly a tool for amateurs and tinkerers.
Developers have never had it so good, and days of 'code a site specifically for each browser' are long gone.
Responsive design, Standards compliant CSS frameworks, the work Adobe has done with photoshop (but not dreamweaver which is now a complete mess) have opened the door to real creativity, and forced designers to modernise, update their tool set and rise to the challenge.
People misunderstand what html5 is - it is not a 'flash replacement', it's the base coding of every web site, the natural evolution of html 4. Flash was never intended as a tool for video playback and embedding, and was poorly suited to the task. We had a mass of properietary ways of embedding content and it was a mess, both for end user and developer. Moving to a unified standard not only makes for a better user experience for the end user, but a far simplified coding experience for the developer.
This is an age of creativity, with more platforms for the end user to consume and interact than ever before - and I for one love the new horizon.