A couple weeks ago, a talented DC illustrator posted a heartfelt query on a web professionals’ listserv I subscribe to. Like so many of us in the industry, she was unsure of where to devote her continuing education after spending spending copious time learning Flash and finding herself smack dab in an uncertain landscape. What is a Flash professional to do? What is the state of animation on the web after the “headbutt” Apple delivered to Adobe via banning all Flash file playback on its iPhones and iPads?
After reading a reply that left me rolling my eyes in disbelief, I decided to express my educated opinion. As someone who has worked with the program since its inception in the 1990′s, my view is an honest and personal one.
Hi Karen,
I understand your confusion about animation and the web. Here’s a synopsis of the state of the industry as I see it. Lengthy, yes, but it’s a bit more complicated than a simple “Flash is Dead” story.
As an interactive designer who spends about 1/3 to 1/2 of my time animating with Flash, I can say it certainly has undergone a huge shift in the last year or so, however the idea that “Flash is dead” is ridiculous. It all depends on what you wish to use Flash for. Right now, HTML5 simply cannot touch Flash for the ease with which it creates rich web-based and cd or hard drive-based applications, which is why I don’t see it disappearing any time soon. Why? There are no HTML5 software packages out there that can come close to touching the power of Actionscript. Adobe recently reaffirmed its commitment to Flash development for this very reason. I use it to create web-based pieces such as e-cards, e-vites and web ads, but also for less talked about media-rich trade show animations and high-end business presentations, neither of which run off a hard drive and don’t require a plugin. If you are a good animator, you don’t have to limit yourself to the web. Flash is by no means a clunky application if one knows the appropriate ways to apply it.
Steve Jobs, (rest his amazing, innovative soul) had a huge motivation to squash Flash because users can self-publish and distribute games and apps to any device which supports it. Apple wants to take away this freedom, and why they are afraid of it. The decision to remove swf support was a decision which, in my opinion, went against the very fiber of what Apple was founded on, which was power to the people, opensource, educational technology. It’s been a huge disappointment to watch the story unfold over the last year or so to say the least. Flash is not just an animation program, nor is it simply a music or video player. It’s a powerful app-building software program which is why knowing how to animate with it is important in the near term while the powers that be hash it out.
That said, Adobe has come out with the second of 2 beta versions of an HTML5 animation program called Edge. Edge is simply a linear animation program – a quick solution to the iPad/iPhone conundrum animators are facing on Apple gizmos. Although Edge has scripting capabilities, it is generally suitable for homepage animations and web ads. Adobe, no doubt, will continue to develop Edge into the future, so if you’re interested in staying on top of the ball, it would be worth your time to begin learning the program. There are many differences between the two interfaces, so it will take some getting used it.
To answer your question about animated gifs is yes, Flash can output animated gifs, however the size of the animated gifs (which, of course are bitmap-generated, and thus larger files than their Flash/vector counterparts) almost ALWAYS go over the file size limitation imposed by online advertising services – usually a mere 100k for rich media. Animated gifs are rarely suitable and quite honestly, clunky and unprofessional compared to the elegance Flash has to offer, which is precisely why the web ad industry is still using Flash – for how long we don’t know. I’ve personally not seen a let-up in web ad projects coming my way. If anything, it’s picked up. The conundrum during this transitional phase is there is no top of the line authoring tool which can output to HTML5. Edge or some other program will change this.
Those who chide Flash for its heavy file size are simply not taking into account the fact that it includes “fat” media, such as sound, video and bitmaps – or, they’ve not understood the streaming capabilities in Flash, or gave up on it before the streaming functions were implemented years ago. Every choice in this world has its price, so if you don’t care about sound, advanced coding/interactivity, elegant transitions, etc… then an animated gif or a static image is more than good. However, if your audience could benefit from being communicated to on more than one level by utilizing interactivity, transitions and sound to reinforce your message – such as in a special web-based presentation – then nothing can beat Flash. It all depends on your target audience, and the likelihood they may be trying to view your site on an iPad.
My advice: if you’re only interested in linear animation then move toward Edge. If you’re interested in creating interactive presentations which can be played online or from a hard drive for trade shows and the like, then stick with Flash until a really big, new product inspires you to do otherwise.
Susan J. Preston is a web designer residing in Taos, New Mexico and working with clients from Santa Fe to Washington DC and all the way back to California. For more information, read the About section, or take a look at the article, How to write a website RFP for help with getting your web design/redesign going.
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