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> Flash allowed to create web experience that is extremely difficult to do with modern technologies. Like what exactly? I played/viewed a lot of Flash content

by diggan 2y ago

> Flash allowed to create web experience that is extremely difficult to do with modern technologies. Like what exactly? I played/viewed a lot of Flash content back in the day, but I don't remember anything out of the ordinary that simply isn't possible/is extremely difficult today, want to jog my memory? There was a period of time after Flash was deprecated and web technologies weren't ready to replace it, but I think we're beyond that today, unless I'm missing something essential Flash could do.

cesarb 2y ago
I recall only once seeing Flash being used to do something "out of the ordinary". It was a video at YouTube (back when it used Flash for its video player), which in the middle of the video "escaped" its container and exploded over the whole page filling it with an animation (playing over the rest of the page elements), going back to normal once the animation finished. That probably required special support from YouTube's flash player, and would never be allowed with its current use of the browser's built-in video player.
- diggan 2y ago
  Definitely as possible today with a canvas covering the entire page but being transparent, probably exactly what they did with the <object> container for that trick too. Flash was constrained to the container, just like <canvas> is, and surely it wasn't actually "escaping" from that container, but the container was drawn over the entire window. But, hard to know exactly how it was implemented without seeing the source, so I guess we'll never know.
Izkata 2y ago
From what I've heard elsewhere (never used it myself), it was the editor for creating flash content that nothing today compares to, that modern tools for creating content are the thing that's extremely difficult (to use) compared to the flash tooling.
- diggan 2y ago
  I've heard that in the past too, but sounds like that's more about Macromedia Flash/Adobe Flash than it is about flash. The claim was: > Flash allowed to create web experience that is extremely difficult to do with modern technologies Which sounds like it's about the output, not the process for getting to the output.

by diggan 2y ago

cesarb 2y ago

I recall only once seeing Flash being used to do something "out of the ordinary". It was a video at YouTube (back when it used Flash for its video player), which in the middle of the video "escaped" its container and exploded over the whole page filling it with an animation (playing over the rest of the page elements), going back to normal once the animation finished. That probably required special support from YouTube's flash player, and would never be allowed with its current use of the browser's built-in video player.

diggan 2y ago
Definitely as possible today with a canvas covering the entire page but being transparent, probably exactly what they did with the <object> container for that trick too. Flash was constrained to the container, just like <canvas> is, and surely it wasn't actually "escaping" from that container, but the container was drawn over the entire window. But, hard to know exactly how it was implemented without seeing the source, so I guess we'll never know.

Izkata 2y ago

From what I've heard elsewhere (never used it myself), it was the editor for creating flash content that nothing today compares to, that modern tools for creating content are the thing that's extremely difficult (to use) compared to the flash tooling.

diggan 2y ago
I've heard that in the past too, but sounds like that's more about Macromedia Flash/Adobe Flash than it is about flash. The claim was: > Flash allowed to create web experience that is extremely difficult to do with modern technologies Which sounds like it's about the output, not the process for getting to the output.