The rise and fall of flash in web design

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The rise and fall of flash in web design

21 April 2010 and last modified on May 18th, 2010 at 9:30 pm, No Comment

Flash is a graphic design software for designing vector based animations for use in web design. The streaming capability of flash makes it ideal for offering media rich animations on websites without having to worry about bandwidth issues.

Use of Flash in Web design – Background

When flash was first released, it was pioneering technology for creating web animations. Subsequent versions of the software provided increased programming support and proved useful in designing innovative interfaces for interactive websites. Throughout the 90′s flash continued to grow in popularity and established itself as one of the most desired web design tools. Contrary to what some may think flash has proved equally effective for developing interactive client applications as it has been for creating media rich animations.

Database support further increased its usefulness for creating front end interfaces for back-end systems. Examples include search forms, booking form for travel or other booking websites as well a range of other systems.

In recent years however, the demand and use of flash in web design has declined considerably. Few designers today prefer to design websites fully in flash. Reduced support for flash in the current versions of some of the latest hi-tech gadgets including the I-pad and I-phone make it even harder to support the case for websites designed completely in flash.

Alternative to using flash in web design

In the early days of Web design, support for CSS and scripting languages such as JavaScript was fairly limited. Flash was one of the only ways to offer creative animations or interactive user interfaces on websites. However web design technology has evolved significantly in the last decade. Browsers offer a much more advanced support for CSS and other scripting languages. JavaScript in particular is much more advanced today and has proved even better for developing interactive features on websites. JavaScript libraries such as Motools and Jquery have become popular in web design and used increasingly for developing media rich animations and interactive interfaces. Technologies such as Ajax offer a viable alternative for developing innovative and interactive features on websites.

The future of flash in web design

Flash is now owned by Adobe who have a successful track record within the graphic and web design industry. Although the trend for designing websites fully in flash has declined, there are still areas where flash is perfectly suited. Flash is one of the most effective tools for providing videos on websites. Leading video portals including You Tube first convert videos in flashâ€™s FLV format before displaying it on the website.

Development of games is also another area that is still well suited for flash. Banner advertising is another such area where flash is popular and effective. Although th current versions of many mobile and handheld devices do not offer full support for flash yet, subsequent versions are likely to offer better support.

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