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Quite a few sites use Flash sockets instead long-poll to maintain connections. Hypem.com is the first that comes to mind. Zed Shaw's Mongrel2 also features JSso
by iheartmemcache 16y ago
Quite a few sites use Flash sockets instead long-poll to maintain connections. Hypem.com is the first that comes to mind. Zed Shaw's Mongrel2 also features JSsockets [1] which uses a .swf for connection persistence as well. There's quite a few apps use Flash behind the scenes, and you won't notice it until it breaks.
[1] http://code.google.com/p/jssockets/ http://code.google.com/p/jssockets/
- swombat 16y agoI've had FlashBlock on for quite some time now, and I haven't noticed any apps mysteriously breaking. So at the moment I'd count that as pro-Flash FUD. (yes, I do use a lot of online apps)
- mcav 16y agoSome flash blocking plugins automatically allow flash applets that are very small (which are often used for sockets, etc).
- sudont 16y agoCorrect. ClickToFlash's default (AFAIK) setting is to allow 1x1 and 0x0 flash items to load in the background. At least, that's how I think it operates. I block everything, and press command-control-f when a site doesn't work properly.
- benologist 16y agoI don't think I'd call it FUD so much as a non-visible use of Flash. HTML5 and jQuery audio players are another example that often discretely relies on Flash as a fallback.
- jmreid 16y agoMany sites use Flash to embed fonts as well.
- NathanKP 16y agoI really haven't seen that. Font solutions such as Google Font Directory (http://code.google.com/webfonts http://code.google.com/webfonts), or Typekit (http://typekit.com/ http://typekit.com/) are already better solutions compared to replacing text with flash.
- jmreid 16y agoIt's not something that sticks out like a Flash video, so it's easy to miss. I use ClickToFlash so it sticks out for me. I agree that those new font solutions are nice, but they're also just that, new.
- jacobolus 16y agoClickToFlash has a "Text Replacement" setting in its preferences to automatically load Flash used for fonts.
- Yaggo 16y agoOr even better, it lets you suppress sIFR. Note to web developers: if you need to enable custom fonts on your website, nowadays there exists better non-flash alternatives to sIFR, e.g. Cufón and Typekit.