Comments for waxpraxis

Comment on Little Boxes, in the Browser… by Bill Mackin

Bill Mackin — Tue, 04 May 2010 05:38:07 +0000

To those that want Flash to die, (and I include Steve Jobs and Apple in that group) let me simply say the following. The death of Flash will not make the problems you are experiencing on the internet disappear. The problems you are experiencing stem from poor development practices and an evolving internet that includes increased complexity. No matter what development technology is used it will be subject to these issues. You see these problems most often with Flash, because Flash is ubiquitous and has been alone in its ability to provide more advanced functionality, but these problems are not unique to Flash. To illustrate my point, consider that many AJAX applications experience the same difficulties with back/forward navigation, deep linking and bookmarking as Flash applications. Why? Because the underlying problem is not the technology, but instead because complex interactions expose the antiquated idea of back/forward navigation. Further to my point, HTML5, Canvas and WebGL all significantly increase CPU load, (and subsequently kill batteries) in many cases to a greater amount than Flash does. Why? Because again the underlying problem is not the technology, but instead the fact that complex animations utilize more processing power.

Let’s not kill development tools (especially ubiquitous ones like Flash) just because they can be used poorly or because their capabilities can expose underlying issues of an evolving system. Instead let’s encourage choice amongst development tools and let the free market decide. I certainly understand the enormous benefits of simplicity (i.e. everyone using the same tools, the same way, with the same objectives) and I also understand that freedom can be messy, but I still prefer freedom.

Comment on Dropping a Stone and Watching the Ripples by Branden

Branden — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:08:18 +0000

I think other people have answered Mr. Jobs better than I could. I just find it silly, so all I did was make fun of the whole thing: http://vimeo.com/11337728

Comment on Dropping a Stone and Watching the Ripples by Nick

Nick — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 04:05:55 +0000

So, assuming that most of the times people have bad experiences with flash it’s because it’s being used inappropriately, I wonder why it seems to be inappropriately used more often (or in more noticeable ways) than other technologies (languages, markup, whatever). Maybe it’s just that flash content is identifiable and no one is going to blame JavaScript, in general, for a bad web page. Or maybe it’s that flash dev tools make it much easier for the developer, which makes it the tool of choice even in cases where it may not be the best choice from the end user’s perspective. I’m really curious.

Now if you really want to pull in more page views and comments you could weigh in on what Steve Jobs said.

Comment on Little Boxes, in the Browser… by Justin

Justin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 01:17:40 +0000

Saying we don’t need Flash is like saying we don’t need cars or airplanes. Look at all the accidents those cause.

Everyone has legs. Let’s go back to walking everywhere. You don’t hear about crazy walking accidents do you? That should be the standard. Everyone can do it. And…there’s much fewer problems. Well you know why? Because you’re going 3MPH.

Good article….

Comment on Little Boxes, in the Browser… by Brent

Brent — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:40:00 +0000

You had me at the Weeds reference.