The arrival of HTML5, CSS3, free JavaScript libraries and advanced content management systems gives the website owner a pretty much open book on what can be achieved without the reliance on plug-ins like Flash. The use of Flash in web design probably grew from a desire by developers to have greater control of the content rendered for viewers and therefore was a de-facto relationship doomed to failure. In fact, should we really need to go to the lengths necessary to install any plug-in? Ideally the functionality required by any web page should be fully supported directly in the browser and that’s not just a consideration for the web developer but also the browser software manufacturer. Just how far users will go to get a “plug-in” operating on their computer remains to be seen. Of course Adobe (the owners) haven’t helped their own cause as the issues prevalent in trying to get a Flash player running on a Windows 64-bit platform will attest. However, the prevalence of WYSIWYG web design programs to include features that use it to automatically generate menus and buttons has seen it persist a lot longer than it otherwise would have. OK, it’s fair to say that there haven’t been many websites built entirely on Flash (so passé) for a few years now and we certainly haven’t built any at Net Maintain that way for many years. The growth and ease of use of JavaScript libraries and growing move by browsers towards some sort of standard has been a fair indication that the use of Flash in everyday web development could easily be replaced by the far more widely supported JavaScript/CSS/Ajax methods for dynamic web development.

Not really the writing was on the wall for long before the non-supporting iPad and iPhone brigade came along carrying the straw that broke the camel’s back. But as far as mainstream web development is concerned you are going to find websites using Flash for crucial components fewer and fewer and websites built entirely on Flash a rarity. Don’t get me wrong, the smell will be around for a while yet as it fills a definite need for things like instructional presentations and the like.

Free javascript flash player