The Second Act for Adobe’s Flash Platform

When it comes to the way time is measured by the World Wide Web, it is not cliché to say that what is cutting-edge online today becomes passe virtually overnight. It seems surprising then, even remarkable, that Adobe’s Flash technology has avoided joining other highly-regarded, ahead-of-their-time applications in the digital dustbin.

In 2002, Jeremy Allaire, then the Chief Technology Officer at Macromedia predicted that Flash would help facilitate the company’s vision for a next-generation Internet running Rich Internet Applications (content-rich applications that can be deployed on standalone, web-enabled devices). He made those remarks at a time when only 10% of Americans had broadband at home (according to a Pew Internet and Life Project Report measuring broadband usage in the United States), and when the wireless movement (PDAs and mobile phones) was in its formative stages.

As a technology, Flash itself was in its pre-adolescence. Macromedia acquired the simple, vector-based animation tool from FutureWave Software in 1996 and gained an early following from the design community who helped evangelize it’s use on the Web. Over the years, Macromedia molded the product into a proper development platform while nudging their ardent supporters forward. In another shrewd move, Macromedia kept the file size for each iteration of player acceptable for installing on computers that were connected to dial-up modems.

Impact On The Web

By the time Adobe Systems completed its acquisition of Macromedia in 2005, the latest version of the Flash Player had an 85% percent adoption rate. As a tool for communication, Flash had been, and remains, unrivaled in its ability to offer users a multimedia experience that is consistent in all browsers, regardless of operating system.

The importance of this last point cannot be overstated enough. Flash enabled the Internet to flourish beyond a landscape of text-driven web pages. There will come a time when the current crop of Internet users will shudder to learn that the World Wide Web had at one point existed without the ubiquitous video and animation that flow through it.

Flash also has the distinction of helping to recruit technology talent to the Web. Although other technology platforms (Perl and Visual Basic to name a couple) were already associated with programming for the Web, Flash was perhaps the only tool that successfully managed to poach graphic designers from the world of print. And although CSS and AJAX have since muscled into the web development playground, Flash continues to be virtually the only tool that allows designers and programmers to seamlessly play in the same sandbox.

Breaching The SEO Barrier

In spite of its rise to prominence on the Web, one of the main knocks on Flash has always been its lack of SEO support. Traditionally, Search Engine bots such as Google’s, have been unable to index content buried within .swf files (Flash files produced for Web). Developers have attempted to circumvent this short-coming by duplicating Flash content within hidden DIV tags with only modest success.

Fortunately, Adobe through a joint effort with Google, announced this past June that Flash-based content will now be more easily indexed without requiring any modifications by developers to existing Flash files. Pre-existing websites that are comprised predominantly of Flash content should experience better search results once the GoogleBot re-indexes each site.

How RIAs Are Influencing MMi’s Approach To Web Development

Market Maker Interactive believes that the underpinnings of a successful website lie in its ability to communicate the right message to the widest possible audience.

Over the past year our approach to using Flash has moved in step with the emergence of RIAs as previously cited by Jeremy Allaire. We are currently using Flash to build self-contained widgets that encapsulate our clients’ message and brand. In partnership with the Clearspring Widget Network, MMi is able to distribute each widget virally across the Web, desktop and mobile phones.

The announcement that Flash is becoming more SEO-friendly fits right in line with MMi’s core philosophy. Increasingly, we will be thinking about (and acting upon) integrating Flash into complex, content-driven portals. We will also take advantage of our hard-won SEO and Analytics expertise to fine-tune the content we convey within a Flash application.

The Future Of RIAs Has Emerged

Now that broadband access is becoming more common (55% of Americans have a high-speed connection at home), Flash is poised to deliver content to a variety of platforms beyond the web browser.

Adobe has extended the Flash application framework with Adobe AIR, allowing Flash developers to build applications that run natively on the Microsoft Windows and Apple operating systems, and will soon run on Linux.

In regards to mobile, Adobe has depicted wireless service providers as increasingly interested in providing additional subscriber value and improving customer retention. According to a news release in Reuters, there are currently 2.7 billion mobile phones in use worldwide and global market penetration is expected to reach 70% by 2010.

Like the Internet boom that preceded it, Adobe is banking on having lightning strike twice with its Flash player platform.

Posted: 08/20/08 | Responses: 0