Flash – Macronimous Blog

The end of Flash era – Will HTML5 and the browsers leave Flash behind?

Benny — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:31:02 +0000

At this point of time, it would be superfluous to say that Flash is the most prominent and widely utilized multimedia platform on the cyberspace. It has substantially demonstrated its mark in several areas such as games, banners, applications, and videos. However, given this fact, several IT enthusiasts across the globe accentuate that the launch of HTML 5 will supersede Flash and sound its death knell. In today’s context, is this relevant? HTML 5 will obviously take some more time to hit the market officially, yet subsets of HTML 5 are already employed in popular websites like YouTube, Google, Vimeo, etc. While anything can happen in future, it is certainly not possible for us to predict if HTML 5 and browsers will end the Flash era. By all means, future is unexplained and we do not know who our competitors will be, for tomorrow!

The chief pros and cons of HTML5 and Flash are discussed here and we hope that it would help you to some extent in choosing the right platform for your projects.
Significant Facts on HTML 5:
• HTML 5 is an open source platform and hence developers can work based on their preferences.
• It is extremely adaptive.
• HTML 5 is well-supported by desktop browsers, mobile browsers, and IOS.
• HTML 5 applications are run by own, without the need for the plug-in.
• With HTML 5 simple interface enhancements can be implemented effortlessly.
• As of now, it is not suitable for advanced video features like streaming, video effects, interaction etc.
Flash: The Crucial data
• Flash, on the other hand, is a fully proprietary concern.
• The technology is time tested and a bulk of the websites use Flash. With its goliath presence in the online world, it is simply difficult for everyone to learn and switch over to a new technology like HTML 5.
• Complex applications perform better with Flash and they are amazingly user-friendly. Flash tools are highly powerful.
• It is faster and has minimal technical limitations when used for multifaceted interactive applications.
• Flash does not perform as expected in MAC OS. Mobile browsers do not support Flash. According to Steve Jobs, it is not compatible with touch screen devices http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/_english/bs-macos.htmand it is a CPU hog consuming a huge amount of battery power.
• Moreover, Rich Internet Applications using Flash are Plug-in based.
HTML 5 is a comprehensive collection of technologies and there are still several discrepancies in its features when used in different browsers. There is no single methodology deployed to enhance cross browser compatibility and even HTML 5 does not back IOS Safari in many areas though it is compatible. Nevertheless, the mobile browser market is growing rapidly and Flash not supported by IOS Safari and others is indeed a matter of concern. Google affirms HTML 5 as a great platform, however, it banks on Flash for Google map street view and multiple file loads in Gmail. While HTML 5 strives hard to perform efficiently on light interface enhancements, Flash concentrates on advanced applications and features. On the flip side, we have encountered countless powerful user interfaces in the market that have failed miserably. Ultimately, the bottom line is that developments have to be user-centric aimed at endowing quality user experience. Technologies that follow this simple yet critical rule will surely succeed despite facing hitches in a few domains when employed.

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4 Things you should let your web development client know

Benny — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 06:22:44 +0000

Not all the web clients are tech or web savvies. Many times you should pave them their success path online. Here are few a list of 4 important things which you should let your client know, if they trust your web development skills.

1. Flash: When they ask for a fully flashed website, let them know the adversity it might make. By doing this you are helping them to establish the right online presence. Unless your client is Coca cola or Burger King ( I mean, :-), an establish brand), they will really want to establish better Visibility to the Search Engines.

2. SEO – If a client just wants a website, let them know what SEO is and how it is going to help them. Make the site SEO friendly within the design scope (Eg. Image tags, XHTML validations, designing without tables, etc). Most of the clients will not say NO to make their site ready for SEO.

3. CMS – Ask how frequently they want to change the content, and if they do, let them do know how to do it themselves with a CMS. You may also need to let them know the advantages of fresh content. I believe instead of providing them a static site of 20 pages, you can introduce them Joomla and how to use it, for some additional but onetime investments.

4. Advantages of Opensource – Do they need a CMS or Ecommerce, You can justify why you charge less. Let them know that you can cut cost by using WordPress or Magento and still make their site professional. By doing this you are introducing standards – if your client goes to some other developers, it would not be difficult for them to take up the work.

I recommend you to keep a short write up (with some references) or articles on the above mentioned (you may keep that under your client section of your website) and ask the client to refer them. It also helps them to understand that you know what you tell them.

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You still can do SEO with your Flash website

Arun Venkit — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:07:24 +0000

Flash does wonders to sites, making them more visually appealing and interesting. But have you thought how appealing it is for the search engines? The fact that not many of us know is that sites that are completely made using Flash, would be treated as a single page by search engines, thereby reducing the crawling time.

One of the best things to do is to create a visually pleasing and attractive website, using normal HTML pages, with Flash put in the intro section or banner of the website. I have observed that this proves to be much more effective in terms of SEO, than having a complete website with only Flash content. This calls for double benefiting … One, allowing the search engines to crawl through your website, with the general optimization content, and Two, showcasing your prowess in Flash, making the site more interactive and attractive for your site visitors. Now isn’t that something that you would love your site to own?!

Something that I have also learned and observed is that using Macromedia products in Flash proves to be SEO friendly to a certain extent. The Macromedia Flash SDK is simply amazing you know, as it analyzes the Flash content and helps in indexing of the content into the database of search engines, by handling the content as normal HTML pages. Note that this also makes it important to optimize the flash content with respect to the search engines as well. Along with this, link building, when done effectively, can make the flash content SEO ready.

Few strategies that I strongly recommend to optimize Flash sites would be using appropriate titles, Meta Tags, keywords and phrases and content inside the Flash piece, along with installing a sitemap and splitting of the flash content to various pages from a single page. Read our article Search Engine Optimization for websites using Flash wherein we have included a detailed article about how sites with Flash can be optimized and made search engine friendly.

Also feel free to download our Practical SEO Techniques EBook

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Download our new free flash guestbook, easy to integrate with your website

Arun Venkit — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:43:37 +0000

A guestbook allows you to keep a check on who has been visiting your website.
Getting feedback becomes all the more easy with the all-new guest book from Macronimous.

Forget boring forms. The real difficulty in getting feedback is to push the visitor to leave behind little information. The fun to use guestbook from Macronimous tempts your user to enter and record his visit to your website. The exciting new guestbook gives you the feel and effect of a real book by allowing you to flip pages. Whatever information the user gives looks cool on the guest book, which automatically inspires him to leave an impression behind.

You can also get the freedom to delete unwanted entries. Change textures and colors with the slightest possible effort. Customize the guest book to your taste and need.

The new flash guestbook is easily integrated with your website. The annoying coding can be done away with. A few clicks will get the new guestbook right into your website. You don’t have to be a computer geek to get your guestbook fixed.

Please look at flash guestbook screenshots below,

Flip to open pages:

The flash powered guestbook is totally secure giving you 100% Spam protection. It is XHTML based, so you get the complete guestbook on any browser. The coding is minimal, so you can still retain your web page lightweight.

Macronimous also goes a step further in making sure to get your feedback precisely by maintaining your guest book for you.

Get this cool new flash guestbook from Macronimous and send your feedback to us. Download it for free, click here.

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