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The author argues that a tool like Flash the authoring software should exist, but makes no argument about Flash the runtime. An authoring software just like Fl

by shawnz 6y ago

The author argues that a tool like Flash the authoring software should exist, but makes no argument about Flash the runtime. An authoring software just like Flash could exist for the HTML runtime -- it isn't the nature of HTML which is the problem. Thus it's not HTML which has to "catch up", but vendors of authoring software.

tapirl 6y ago
> The author argues that a tool like Flash the authoring software should exist, but makes no argument about Flash the runtime. Yes, this is what I meant. Sorry, I didn't clarify this in the replied comment. > it isn't the nature of HTML which is the problem It is in some degrees. The same html/js code might run some differently in different browsers, from either behaviors or performance aspects. On the other hand, Flash runtime only presents some small behavior differences on different OSes or with different CPU architectures. And for different OSes/browser combos with the same-power CPUs+GPUs, there is almost no performance differences.
- wastholm 6y ago
  > On the other hand, Flash runtime only presents some small behavior differences on different OSes or with different CPU architectures. And for different OSes/browser combos with the same-power CPUs+GPUs, there is almost no performance differences. Really? Last time I used Flash, a few years ago when it still mattered, it used 100% CPU just to play video on Linux. The Windows version didn't seem to have this problem and I deduced that Adobe just didn't care about Linux.
EamonnMR 6y ago
We'll there we have it: we lived in a world with good tooling for creative works but a bad runtime, and we replaced the runtime without replacing the authoring tools. I think that's a shame.
- Olreich 6y ago
  Adobe produced Flash and the authoring tools. They mostly gave up when Flash's runtime was deemed bad. Turns out, they have an authoring tool for HTML5 that looks a lot like flash: https://www.adobe.com/products/animate.html https://www.adobe.com/products/animate.html So, yeah, I'd question why Animate isn't good enough to fill Flash's role.
  - EamonnMR 6y ago
    Flash/animate added html5 export in 2012, five years after the iPhone was released and the writing was on the wall. But another big difference is that Flash was widely pirated and ran on the devices that everyone had (PCs.) A similarly accessable authoring tool would need to run on mobile and be cheaply available. I also think that mobile devices are simply not as good for creative work as PCs (mice/keyboards) are. The only way to fit lots of information through a smartphone is to take a video. It cannot be used by amateur programmers nearly as effectively. The special sauce wasn't just flash; the special sauce was the PC as a creative platform.
- cogman10 6y ago
  The web is different now. Back in the days of flash, "platforms" weren't really a thing and social media was pretty much "whoever has figured out how to host a webpage". We don't live in that era anymore (and I sort of miss it :( ). We live in an era of SaaS and major platforms. For 90% of "custom webpages" wordpress covers it. For the 9% not covered, flash wouldn't really be a good fit. The loss is for that 1% of creative fun junk by hobbyist that's just missing all together. Flash made it easy for a novice to sculpt something. However, it didn't make it easy for a business to maintain something.
  - dragonwriter 6y ago
    > Back in the days of flash, "platforms" weren't really a thing and social media was pretty much "whoever has figured out how to host a webpage". The “days of flash” included the rise to dominance of Facebook (Facebook games were largely, maybe entirely, Flash), and even moreso included the entire MySpace era of social media.

by shawnz 6y ago

tapirl 6y ago

> The author argues that a tool like Flash the authoring software should exist, but makes no argument about Flash the runtime. Yes, this is what I meant. Sorry, I didn't clarify this in the replied comment. > it isn't the nature of HTML which is the problem It is in some degrees. The same html/js code might run some differently in different browsers, from either behaviors or performance aspects. On the other hand, Flash runtime only presents some small behavior differences on different OSes or with different CPU architectures. And for different OSes/browser combos with the same-power CPUs+GPUs, there is almost no performance differences.

wastholm 6y ago
> On the other hand, Flash runtime only presents some small behavior differences on different OSes or with different CPU architectures. And for different OSes/browser combos with the same-power CPUs+GPUs, there is almost no performance differences. Really? Last time I used Flash, a few years ago when it still mattered, it used 100% CPU just to play video on Linux. The Windows version didn't seem to have this problem and I deduced that Adobe just didn't care about Linux.

EamonnMR 6y ago

We'll there we have it: we lived in a world with good tooling for creative works but a bad runtime, and we replaced the runtime without replacing the authoring tools. I think that's a shame.

Olreich 6y ago
Adobe produced Flash and the authoring tools. They mostly gave up when Flash's runtime was deemed bad. Turns out, they have an authoring tool for HTML5 that looks a lot like flash: https://www.adobe.com/products/animate.html https://www.adobe.com/products/animate.html So, yeah, I'd question why Animate isn't good enough to fill Flash's role.
- EamonnMR 6y ago
  Flash/animate added html5 export in 2012, five years after the iPhone was released and the writing was on the wall. But another big difference is that Flash was widely pirated and ran on the devices that everyone had (PCs.) A similarly accessable authoring tool would need to run on mobile and be cheaply available. I also think that mobile devices are simply not as good for creative work as PCs (mice/keyboards) are. The only way to fit lots of information through a smartphone is to take a video. It cannot be used by amateur programmers nearly as effectively. The special sauce wasn't just flash; the special sauce was the PC as a creative platform.
cogman10 6y ago
The web is different now. Back in the days of flash, "platforms" weren't really a thing and social media was pretty much "whoever has figured out how to host a webpage". We don't live in that era anymore (and I sort of miss it :( ). We live in an era of SaaS and major platforms. For 90% of "custom webpages" wordpress covers it. For the 9% not covered, flash wouldn't really be a good fit. The loss is for that 1% of creative fun junk by hobbyist that's just missing all together. Flash made it easy for a novice to sculpt something. However, it didn't make it easy for a business to maintain something.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Back in the days of flash, "platforms" weren't really a thing and social media was pretty much "whoever has figured out how to host a webpage". The “days of flash” included the rise to dominance of Facebook (Facebook games were largely, maybe entirely, Flash), and even moreso included the entire MySpace era of social media.