The FWA is almost 10 years old (established in May 2000) and they started their 10th anniversary celebrations early by launching a brand new site (created by Belgian based Flash rockstars Group94). The FWA is one of the few sites I visit daily and a great inspirational resource. Every day they award the best site with their acclaimed and much wanted “Site of the Day” award. Winners proudly add the yellow ribbon to their site to show that they won.
The FWA has awarded over 3000 sites in the last 10 years… Less than 10 of those use a technology other than Flash. So… If you’re looking for great examples of why Flash isn’t going anywhere soon, The FWA is a good place to start! In just about every thinkable category from games to architecture to educational to fashion and more you can find inspiring examples that showcase the power of the Flash Platform.
If you have any doubts that Flash doesn’t have a future, you should just look at some of the amazing sites and apps showcased on The FWA!
Here are some of my favorite recent FWA winners:
Flash on!
Completely agree with you!
Well, the British Museum tour visite is just perfect for kids! Glad this “heavy players” bet on Flash to deliver so cool experiences to users
I’m not saying Flash is a dead technology because it isn’t, not by a long shot. I just hate to see Flash used for the sake of Flash. A lot of the websites featured by FWA are amazing and executed very well, and Flash is the only real way to achieve them. But some websites just don’t need to be built in Flash, and The FWA’s new website is a perfect example. Why is that website in Flash? You could get pretty much the exact same layout and functionality without Flash.
My 2 cents.
I am a big fan of Flash — it was the amazing experimental Flash work of people like Nakamura, Wefail, Joshua Davis, etc back in the early 2000s that excited me and fired me up to teach myself about digital design/development and eventually get a job doing it.
But I can’t agree with this post, I think it’s a little short sighted. The FWA has been promoting Flash sites heavily (and doing a great job of it) for a long time now, but until now there hasn’t been any major threat to Flash as a plugin. With HTML5 and the variety of JavaScript frameworks around that allow for rich interaction, this is no longer the case.
Flash as a technology is great and does have a place, but to assume that it’s future is secure is naive. Apple’s refusal to support the plugin will have a huge effect on it’s use — clients expect their sites to work across all platforms and developers will have to respond to this going forward. I already know of many Flash developers spending time learning Objective C to cover their backs, because they realise that the future is a little shaky.
I for one am perplexed by the FWA’s decision to build their new site in Flash, in part because what they have built could have been achieved way easier and more accessibly using HTML, but mainly because they’ve just alienated a huge part of their demographic that use non Flash-enabled mobile devices.
The debate continues.
As a further thought, it will be interesting to see how Flash CS5 and it’s ability to output native iPhone/iPad applications will effect the playing field…
The new FWA site is actually a hybrid of HTML and Flash. I agree that some parts of it could have been built with other technologies. That said, I’m sure that Group94 and the FWA crew have carefully considered their choice.
You are correct Serge. The FWA site is a hybrid. It appears as though the entire page is written out in HTML as a backup if Flash is not available, and perhaps the Flash even gets its content directly from the page.
Otherwise, it is too early to say that Flash isn’t going anywhere. It is also too early to say that HTML5 is even a viable technology. Considering 61% (from a recent polling of world browser statistics) of the users in the world cannot view HTML5 at all, and approximately 85% of the users in the world cannot view standard HTML5 video. Those numbers don’t look threatening to me, as a Flash devigner. Flash works across all the browsers equally, except for one – the iPhone.
That, and Apples view on the situation, may change in the near future, as Flash 10.1 gets released and is on every smart phone except the iPhone. That includes the Google Nexus One (which was selling 60,000 a day at the end of Google’s last quarter, and increasing), Blackberries, all other Android phones, the Palm Pre……
Like others, I was shocked to see a full Flash site from FWA once again. I had hoped that they would used Flash as and when required instead of doing this.
We’re in a period where as Flash developers we’re having to defend our use of Flash all the time. A full Flash site like this, that could have been done otherwise, is a prime example of why we’re under fire.
Flash adds very little to this site that could have easily been done in other ways.
@Stephen Melrose
“But some websites just don’t need to be built in Flash, and The FWA’s new website is a perfect example. Why is that website in Flash? You could get pretty much the exact same layout and functionality without Flash.”
HTML is more SEO-friendly than Flash.
It’s more accessible too.
(mind you, all because of ubiquity)
But why should you limit yourself to HTML?
Why should you bother trying to recreate something with HTML, when it will cost twice the amount in development time? Maybe it’s not even possible to build the exact same site in HTML. What is the targeted audience? Is there any need to develop that website in HTML? If an iPhone/iPad can’t do Flash, why should the FWA even bother building a more accessible website? ;-)
Let me turn things around and ask you this: with all cross-browsers issues you’ll get, why not develop every webpage in Flash? Often, you can do it quicker because there’s no hassle placing elements on a page, it’s a WYSIWYG environment that works cross-platform. Not to mention that you can use vector images, and a compiled file uses less space/bandwidth…
What if the entire WWW was build with Flash?
It would have been billions times smaller than it is today.
;-)
I too am a big fan of Flash and the FWA. I am also a Flash developer.
I am genuinely surprised to see that the latest incarnation of the FWA is Flash. To suggest it is a hybrid is stretching the term slightly. Turn off flash and have a look for yourself, it’s not a good experience.
There is no doubt that Flash is an amazing platform to develop for, as any example on the FWA will demonstrate. However, I believe Flash is not the best tool for this type of website. In this case, I believe a lot of what Flash has been used for, could have been achieved with alternative technologies. This would of made the site more accessible to a wider range of users and devices.
In terms of Flash going away, it won’t. It’s uses will change though. Until we can produce ‘Site of the day’ winners using HTML5 to the same caliber that Flash can now, it will remain the preferred platform for many agencies and developers. For simple image viewers and such like, there is jquery, so need for Flash there any more. The expanding mobile market is changing the game though, so we will need to see where this takes us. Most of us will develop using the best technologies for the job, not just the ones we know.
I Think All HTML Based Sites Should Be Built in Flash . Why to stick to html if we can do almost everything in flash. Its about choice.
I’m more of a fan of html sites personally. To me it’s like a pop-up book v magazine. Pop-ups are a novelty/ gimmick that soon wears off/ gets in the way. A nice designed mag is quickly navigational and a pleasurable experience without the faff.
@Logic
“Let me turn things around and ask you this: with all cross-browsers issues you’ll get, why not develop every webpage in Flash?”
Because this is a lazy approach and complete misuse of the technology. The “hassle” of “placing elements on a page” that you refer to is actually a craft that any developer worth their salt should care about and want to get right.
It’s this kind of misuse of Flash that makes it 10 times harder for decent Flash developers to defend their use of the technology.
In short, there is no right or wrong. Flash is the right technology for certain projects and HTML for others. It’s knowing and respecting the roles of the different technologies that’s important.
i agree with Logic. What HTML Achieve today my using variety of multiple frameworks. JQuerry etc. in flash we can do same thing by only sticking to flash. No need to employ multiple frameworks. In the case of Flex . Development job is more streamlined. Long Live Flash.
Flash isn’t going away. But the group that made it what it is today is. Developers, not professional programmers, built the vast majority of the content you see today and have seen in the past. Macromedia was brilliant at responding to their needs. Flash (AS2) perfectly mixed tech and design. Everyone could do anything in Flash. It wasn’t too complicated.
Today, developers have become a silent majority who has been left in the dust when AS3 was introduced; their skills have become obsolete. Silent because Adobe relies too much on Community Experts and Evangelists to paint a rosy picture to attract programmers to the platform.
The problem is that programmers, who don’t even care about Flash, won’t support it during this period of uncertainty. Developers would have; the way Apple Fan boys helped the company escape bankruptcy in ’94/’95. Flash developers could have done the same today. Millions of voices make a difference. The voice of Adobe employees who try to push their technology on others products has not influenced Apple for the iPhone and apparently won’t for the iPad.
Flash work will gradually dwindle as developers will do less and less work in Flash. Fast forward 5 years from now and the landscape will be different.
As a Flash user who started using and believing in Flash 10 years ago, I can tell you that this sucks. But it looks like it is time to move on. Learn AS3? No way, I don’t want the same thing to happen in 4 years-time.
@Charles: AS3 is actually not that difficult to learn if you know AS2. You also make it sound as if you can no longer build apps with AS2 today. Fact is that even sites/animations built for Flash Player 1 still work today.
@Peter I agree, if you turn of Flash or JavaScript the FWA site experience crumbles. Its all about providing an experience that degrades appropriately. If you feel as if Flash can provide you with a superior experience, then go for it. Just remember to build an experience for people who don’t have Flash or a JavaScript enabled browser. Its that simple! The days of choosing one over the other are long gone. If you ask me, if you’re using Flash for the primary experience, you MUST provide an alternate HTML experience for the rest of your audience.
@Charles You should have learned AS3 already. Its been nearly four years since Flash Player 9 was released. If you want a technology to continue to live and provide you with career opportunities then keep up with it. You’re being lazy. You’re attitude doesn’t support the continued innovation of the platform. Just stick with ActionScript 2 and Flash 8 and quit complaining about other developers.
I don’t agree with you Guy. I’m being pragmatic about things… If you can go from A to B, why take a detour? Seriously?
>>”Because this is a lazy approach and complete misuse of the technology.”
Who am I (and who are you) to claim that doing so is wrong? Why is it misuse? If it’s available, quicker to build, and targets the people I want to reach, what’s wrong with that? There are certain things Flash does better. Flash is like a PDF that can do animation, for the last 10 years or so. No wonder Adobe bought Macromedia… The great ‘what if’: What if the SWF format was invented before HTML?
>> It’s this kind of misuse of Flash that makes it 10 times harder for decent Flash developers to defend their use of the technology.
I’m not going to play along, enough badly built HTML sites out there that proof you’re wrong.
@Logic
You’ve hit the nail on the head when you say ‘targets the people I want to reach’.
It’s all about giving the end user the best experience. In some situations this requires Flash (generally where the intention is to create something experiential/interactive to immerse users) and in other situations HTML is more appropriate (generally where accessibility, SEO are more important).
The point is not to just arbitrarily choose a technology and build with that just because you like it.
Of course you can if you want to, but to ignore the audience is wrong.
Ultimately, it’s not about taking a detour. It’s about using the right tools for the job.
‘What if’s’ don’t really help:
What if I were born with an amazing entrepreneurial talent and was now a billionaire?
What if I were born with Brad Pitt’s face and had an army of models desperate to get me in bed?
What if the SWF format was invented before HTML?
None of these things are true, so it’s fairly pointless to ponder them :)
Last I knew FWA stood for “Favorite Website Awards,” not “Favorite HTML5 Website Awards.”
HTML5 as a RIA standard is Steve Job’s wet dream at BEST. If you can’t view Flash content, you have no business visiting a website dedicated towards showcasing pages chalk with animation or interactive content.
@JP
You’ve got a point. The FWA pretty much exclusively showcases Flash sites. So yeah, there’s little point going there on a non-Flash enabled device. it might as well be called the Flash Website Awards.
That said, the post we’re all commenting on here essentially cites that BECAUSE the FWA has lots of Flash sites in its showcase, then Flash’s future can’t be under any threat. Which doesn’t make sense.
The FWA is essentially an archive of the last 10 years of great Flash web sites, of which there are many brilliant examples. The question though is whether Flash will continue to occupy the same space in the future. I’m not so sure it will…
I am bemused by people calling other developers lazy for not learning AS3. The reality is that some of us have been developing multi-year projects that just don’t get converted to AS3 overnight.
The realities of business means that Flash is under serious threat. Not the technology.
@Charles A reality of business is that technology will always be changing and if your your business doesn’t account for this then it will be your business that is under threat. Flash is just a piece of technology (a tool) to get things done. Is it the only way to do it? No, of course not. Is Flash under threat by a competing technology? Maybe so! Time will tell. But Adobe has been making advances in the platform in an effort for it to stay alive so they can sell their other products.
I really don’t understand what you’re trying to say. For instance, the “developers” you speak of that had a huge part in making Flash what it is today are now “professional programmers” themselves using the latest API’s available in the latest Flash Player. It sounds to me as if you’re annoyed that Adobe hasn’t catered to your situation, that being you’re still using ActionScript 2 and don’t have access to the latest features of the Flash Player. I’m sorry if you’re still forced to use AS2, but as a developer, for your own sake, teach yourself AS3. Get your business to realize that if they don’t keep up with the advances in the platform then you’ll be left behind. Thats just how this type of industry works.
This is a rather odd statement as to why Flash is not going anywhere just based on 10 years of the FWA showcase, given some of the following:
- FWA historically has “Only” showcased Flash sites.
- FWA only recently “officially” (Feb 2010) opened up submissions to other mediums, and for the first time (to my knowldege) showcased a “non” Flash site.
- Most of all, alot has changed in those 10 years concerning the web, broadband, moble, etc.. regardless of what the FWA has choosen to showcase.
Its also odd that…
- The March 2010 FWA relaunch of their new site looks like a typical HTML/CSS site you see everywhere now days for websites, blogs, etc.., but instead it is done in Flash, kind of weird really (to me)? Why not just use HTML/CSS etc.. if your gonna mimic it anyway, why go to the trouble of using Flash? Seems odd to replicate HTML/CSS just for the sake of using Flash?
Having mentoned these things, I am so tired of the overall debate about Flash vs HTML5 and every other web markup/technology out there. As a Flash person myself, I appreciate the FWA, I just dont think it can be used as a “solid point” to say Flash is not going anywhere.
3000 sites over 10 years, what about the other millions/billions/trillions of sites that are out there that may or may not, and those that do not use Flash? Everyday, I see sites that look like what used to be Flash and are now using some form of Javascript or Ajax Library for standard things Flash used to be used for. Granted from a capability standpoint Flash is still far more reaching and capable than those other technologies in many areas, but most sites today on average only need the types of things those other technologies now offer (the whole web standards, web 2.0, JS/Ajax craze).
Flash is great like any other web medium when its required and used efficiently, I just dont think the FWA will/can dictate or justify its existence. Hopefully Adobe however will, only time will tell.
“I just dont think the FWA will/can dictate or justify its existence.”
Agreed. My impression is most of the sites are “trophy” sites for agencies or big brands. Nothing Joe Consumer would miss if it never existed.
The problem with Flash is mostly poor UI design. ie: too much animation (making user wait for the content), high CPU use, etc. … and the FWA site is like a collection of worst practices, IMO.
Given the explosion of browsers among various platforms, I’d like to see a collection (award category?) for “best practices” showcasing practical, efficient (transparent?) use of Flash for navigation, multi-tasking, speed, and even Web 2.0 use.
“Let me turn things around and ask you this: with all cross-browsers issues you’ll get, why not develop every webpage in Flash?”
– > why not just use images for everypage with image maps…
I think flash is cool, it will do things that HTML won’t or hasn’t (cough cough)!
If a magazine delivered the same content that a newspaper did, of course, it’d look better and feel better…
Flash has evolved and so has HTML. It’ll be interesting to see what my job will require me to do in the future.
Its two different means to visualize information and I think whichever is more suitable should be used. Case by case analysis… just imagine the “GET THE GLASS” site in HTML…
I like both technologies and use both so.. just my 2 cents !
@Guy, many valid points there. We are so focussed on accessibility, it has become an obsession. But with that in mind, you could ask yourself the question why Flash has become this big in the first place. How is that possible? How did they convince people to download and install a plugin, back in the days when the average modem didn’t go faster than 36kbit/s… Sometimes accessibility is overrated, e.g., how many people installed the Silverlight plugin just so they could see the Playboy showcase? Once installed tho, mission accomplished.
>”The point is not to just arbitrarily choose a technology and build with that just because you like it.”
You give me the impression that I can’t choose a technology, just because I like it. Steve Jobs loves HTML5, and he already made that choice before I could… it’s not even a standard yet!
HTML 5 is in its early days, a few years needed to make it competitive to Flash – a whole lifetime for the Internet
Flash is great for Promotional, Game or Entertainment sites. They serve a purpose and look dope.
I Think All HTML Based Sites Should Be Built in Flash . Why to stick to html if we can do almost everything in flash. Its about choice.