Flash® or not to Flash®

I’m not talking about the questions challenging one wearing a trench coat, but the platform you’re going to develop your next RIA or interactive website within.

By Brad

The role of the Front-End Developer has changed a lot over the years. With the advent of Flash® and action-script, gaining the ability to create engaging interactive multi-media experiences was a massive plus for Developers; we could finally create something more than just images and text on a page, something that reflected the exciting technology the internet represented. But it also came with a downside; 3rd party browser plug-ins, updates etc…

Luckily, innovation being the mother of all creation, we’ve found a way to get around these caveats. The solution; Javascript frameworks with easy to implement AJAX functionality, basically using Javascript for animation and interactivity and AJAX (Asynchronous Java And XML) for in-page data retrieval using HTTP Requests. Here lies the future of the web. Interactive websites and RIA’s can now be developed without the need for Flash® (although Flash® definitely still has its sweet uses).

Here at Square Circle Triangle we’ve been utilising jQuery as our Javascript framework of choice, mainly for its ease of use, nice syntax, stability, small footprint and extensive online community. Here at the studio we’ve been moving away from flash for animated elements as Javascript support in modern browsers is getting better and interactive elements are getting easier to implement with pure HTML/CSS/JS.

So next time you want something flashy and interactive on one of your sites, get one of the SCT team on the phone to discuss the best solution and platform for your website.

Helpful links;
RIA: Rich Internet Application