“Flash apps are bloated, HTML/JavaScript apps are not”
This seems to be one of the most common concerns/comments people have against Flash applications. So I did a quick little test to see exactly how big or bloated some popular sites/RIAs actually are… The test shows that HTML/JavaScript apps can be equally as “bloated” as Flash based apps. Sure… You can build apps that are as small as a couple of kilobytes with HTML/JavaScript but you can do the same with Flash based apps.
HTML/JAVASCRIPT BASED APPS
Google Mail: 2.433MB
Mobile Me: 2.546MB
Facebook: 2.62MB
FLASH BASED APPS
SumoPaint: 1.105MB
Hobnox AudioTool: 2.358MB (but you did load more than a halve music studio)
VW Used Car Locater: 1.578MB
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- Lionel - “Flash apps are bloated, HTML/JavaScript apps are not” http://tr.im/mW45
- Jeremy Le Van - “Flash apps are bloated, HTML/JavaScript apps are not” http://tr.im/mW45 (via @blobinabottle)
- corban baxter - Flash apps are sooo bloated! http://bit.ly/dSiuv
- Tim Consolazio - "Flash Apps are Bloat, JS/HTML are not". No. It's about code quality; you can write a bloated JS app too. ...
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Are you taking the ZLib or compression of SWF files into account? I am not sure if those JS compression utilities are comparable with Zlib.
These numbers are exactly what the user downloads. So I didn’t take any compression into account.
Interesting – but is it possible to show all of those side-by-side, rather than in terms of relative file contents?
@James: I’m not sure you can compare them like that. This is just what the user has to download before he can start working with the app.
Flash apps are not bloated, they just feel that way. Every time I load a flash based application i get annoyed because I first have to wait for the page to load, and than I got the wait for the flash app has been loaded with a annoying progress bar.
With normal applications you just load the document you see it loading and accept that you have to wait for the page to be completely parsed, and usually don’t have to wait for flash to be loaded so no extra annoying waiting time for the user. I think this is what makes some flash applications feel bloated compared normal applications.
From a performance perspective flash applications are better optimized compared to normal HTML applications (amount of requests, compressed, etc).
I always find it weird that people compare flash with HTML.. There not the same they are 2 different things. its like comparing. PC with a laptop. Sure they can do the same thing. But there not the same.. A PC is never becoming a laptop, and laptop is not becoming a pc ;).
Ok i got carried away :$
Very interesting, Facebook vs Sumo Paint is the most impressive comparaison
Tools doesn’t matter, developer does.
Sadly enough it’s a real nightmare to build modular Flex applications. You’d expect a development tool like Flex to excel when it comes to modular, enterprise type of business applications. The contrary is the case however. Flex has something like ‘modules’ but they are far from perfect. I really hope Flex 5 will fix the current nightmare.
Baffling amount of scripts on facebook…… I won’t even bother discussing this topic, since those with an opinion on this matter that have never programmed in AS, usually have no idea what they’re talking about.
Give me a break.
The ‘bloatedness’ factor of a Flash app is inversely proportional to the experience level of the Flash developer–the less experienced, perhaps a larger the file, the more experienced typically smaller. However, no matter what level of experience the Flash developer has, they only need to develop one app. HTML/JavaScript apps require multiple versions; for platform (Mac or PC), for browser types (4 or 5, depending on how your count), and then for browser versions (IE alone has 5 versions you need to account). Flash is platform & browser agnostic—it doesn’t care, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t effect it. Trying to point at few KB of file size here or there is a diversionary tactic—the real issue is dev time. Flash is Faster—that’s why the call it Flash.