Flash is an application that allows developers to create rich applications that display graphics and animations. The easy to use environment requires minimal coding and creates a product that is often used to enhance websites. History
Macromedia Flash was created in 1996, originally the FutureSplash Animator. Macromedia released 8 versions of Flash before being acquired by Adobe Systems in 2007. Adobe refined not only Flash, but Macromedia's Dreamweaver and Fireworks, among other technologies. The new products featured a new user interface that was common among Adobe's other applications including photoshop. This first release of Flash under its new ownership was part of a collection called Creative Studio 3 (CS3). In October of 2008, Adobe released CS4, adding functionality and a refined UI to their applications.
To compliment the rich environment for creating animations and graphics, ActionScript is used to program objects within the project, similar to using JavaScript in a website. ActionScript allows developers to be more flexible and edit their animations more easily. ActionScript is an object oriented programming language, which makes it more similar to other popular programming languages.
Flash is being used wit XML capabilities that allow the browser to render rich content. Similar to AJAX, Asynchronous Flash has lead to the development of Adobe Flex, which integrates Flash and XML to create Rich Internet Applications. Adobe Flex is used to create video players that have become common with sites such as YouTube. The Flex video players protect the content from easy download by the user.
The large issue with using flash in a website, is that Flash Player (the application used to view Flash applications) is not installed on computers in the world. When I was creating the website for the non-profit, GPHE, I was very interested in perusing a Flash interface for at least the home page of the site. I created this simple flash page, and quickly learned that many of our viewers were not from the US, only about half of the users had the latest version of the player. This number has grown over the years, but it is still not at what it should be.
Alternatives to Flash include SVC and SMIL, both W3C standards in web development. These technologies are also open source, while the Adobe Flash application and other Adobe software can cost hundreds of dollars. These alternatives might become more popular
because of the cost associated with developing via Adobe Flash (although the cost is static, it is still an initial investment.
There are also alternatives that include Microsoft Silverlight, JavaFX, OpenLaszlo, and Synfig, none of which have been as developed and as well accepted as Flash has.
Examples of websites that use flash include:
• Sony is a great example of a website that has taken full advantage of what Flash has to offer - (www.sony.com)
From my experience, the Flash platform is very easy to use, after quite a bit of playing around with it. I had become very familiar with the Macromedia Flash 8 environment and recently downloaded the new CS4 version. The user interface is very different, and it was not easy to make that transition. I have not invested the appropriate amount of time into learning to use the new CS4 version, but would think that it would be too steep of a learning curve for many smaller developers.