4 ms·

I'm confused about what your goal here is. Are you trying to get advertisers to use HTML for their ads?

jfb 13y ago
People block Flash for a variety of reasons; ads are only one. Drive-by security breaches and terrible energy performance are two others.
hrktb 13y ago
I don't know for the GP bit I'd actually like the ads to be HTML instead. That would be the real end to the pages forcing Flash down your throat taking the content in hostage until you've seen the bloody 5sec ad. They'll find a way to force something down our throat anyway, avoiding HTML lessens the pain.
potatolicious 13y ago
Partially yes. The problem with Flash ads is that they are difficult to block (without blocking Flash wholesale), because we don't have access to the runtime. There's no reasonable way for the browser to deep-inspect a Flash embed and determine whether or not it's abusive or relevant. There's also no way for your browser to alter and reformat content - it's either shown precisely the way Flash wants it to be shown, or not at all. HTML ads will be rendered by software the user actually owns and controls - the browser market is healthy, largely driven by open source, and there is choice in your "runtime". Making all ads render in HTML will be a tremendous win for the user. As someone else mentioned also, Flash is one of the worst pieces of software known to man when it comes to bugs and exploits. Nary a day goes by without a serious 0-day Flash breach being discovered, and it is still notoriously crashy.
- barrkel 13y ago
  I want advertisers to continue to use Flash, precisely because Flash is trivial to block and is almost always advertising. There are approximately two exceptions, Youtube and Vimeo, and they can be handled with any of several click-to-play Flash blockers. Making all ads render in HTML will make them much harder to block, because there will no longer be such a common telltale for animating, distracting cruft.
  - dijit 13y ago
    quick note about vimeo's html5 video player: It's amazing, it runs on almost all videos. it's lightyears ahead in terms of scope (number of videos' that will play using it) and style compared to the youtube html5 trial.
    - lloeki 13y ago
      > scope (number of videos' that will play using it) Many videos don't play in HTML5 on Youtube because of mandatory ads (displayed as overlays) and various settings available to right holders. The Youtube HTML5 player is perfectly potent... > and style ... and on par with its Flash-based sibling. Now if you want to argue the Youtube player (be it HTML5 or Flash) is not as stylish and functional as Vimeo's, so be it.
  - josteink 13y ago
    Worst case scenario somebody will cook up a "unanimate" browser-extension for Firefox and Chrome. If HTML5 ads becomes the defacto standard, you know somebody will be annoyed enough to actually build it.

jfb 13y ago

People block Flash for a variety of reasons; ads are only one. Drive-by security breaches and terrible energy performance are two others.

hrktb 13y ago

I don't know for the GP bit I'd actually like the ads to be HTML instead. That would be the real end to the pages forcing Flash down your throat taking the content in hostage until you've seen the bloody 5sec ad. They'll find a way to force something down our throat anyway, avoiding HTML lessens the pain.

potatolicious 13y ago

Partially yes. The problem with Flash ads is that they are difficult to block (without blocking Flash wholesale), because we don't have access to the runtime. There's no reasonable way for the browser to deep-inspect a Flash embed and determine whether or not it's abusive or relevant. There's also no way for your browser to alter and reformat content - it's either shown precisely the way Flash wants it to be shown, or not at all. HTML ads will be rendered by software the user actually owns and controls - the browser market is healthy, largely driven by open source, and there is choice in your "runtime". Making all ads render in HTML will be a tremendous win for the user. As someone else mentioned also, Flash is one of the worst pieces of software known to man when it comes to bugs and exploits. Nary a day goes by without a serious 0-day Flash breach being discovered, and it is still notoriously crashy.

barrkel 13y ago
I want advertisers to continue to use Flash, precisely because Flash is trivial to block and is almost always advertising. There are approximately two exceptions, Youtube and Vimeo, and they can be handled with any of several click-to-play Flash blockers. Making all ads render in HTML will make them much harder to block, because there will no longer be such a common telltale for animating, distracting cruft.
- dijit 13y ago
  quick note about vimeo's html5 video player: It's amazing, it runs on almost all videos. it's lightyears ahead in terms of scope (number of videos' that will play using it) and style compared to the youtube html5 trial.
  - lloeki 13y ago
    > scope (number of videos' that will play using it) Many videos don't play in HTML5 on Youtube because of mandatory ads (displayed as overlays) and various settings available to right holders. The Youtube HTML5 player is perfectly potent... > and style ... and on par with its Flash-based sibling. Now if you want to argue the Youtube player (be it HTML5 or Flash) is not as stylish and functional as Vimeo's, so be it.
- josteink 13y ago
  Worst case scenario somebody will cook up a "unanimate" browser-extension for Firefox and Chrome. If HTML5 ads becomes the defacto standard, you know somebody will be annoyed enough to actually build it.