Gone in a Flash

There is a sad trend in websites. Thanks to some security flaws, Flash Animation is slowly disappearing. Well … that and a few more reasons.

Article on Flash Attacks
If you are in still in the woods and don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a sample Flash animation from the Traveling Boy Website which was developed by WYNK.

Other reasons for the dying flash animation would include:

  • longer download time (because of the size) – although this is getting less of an issue since the bandwidth speeds are getting better and better.
  • Some people just want the data and prefer not to have to go through a video to get it.
  • Some don’t have the patience for anything.

You will notice that major websites like Nike or Mercedes Benz that used to be heavy with Flash animation have now opted for Javascript slide presentations (so far Javascript slides are still safe). They’re not as dramatic and flexible as flash but until the problem is fixed, this seems to be the animation of choice.

Here’s a sample of a slide presentation WYNK made for TravelingBoy.com using Javascript.

And since I am in the topic about security on the web, if you are still using Microsoft Explorer, please save yourself some headache — switch to Firefox or Chrome (there are other browsers but these are my 2 favorites). Microsoft has already said they will no longer be in the web browser business. And if you are one of the dinosaurs still using Windows XP, go ahead and use it but just realize that if your browser crashes … worse — if your computer crashes, no one (except maybe Bubba, your friendly neighborhood tech guy)  will be available to help you.  And if you are taking the risk, just be sure to backup your data.

I don’t know if I’ll miss Flash when it comes to advertisements. But I will miss it in some websites. I hope they come up with a remedy soon. I always like to have options available.

It’s a changing world out there but there will always be good guys and bad buys.