Yeah, But Is It Flash?

iPhone apps built with Flash CS5

February 2, 2010 · Comments Off

Adobe have released a video showing off some more apps created using Flash Pro CS5. What I’ve seen so far is very encouraging and the performance seems to be significantly better compared to some of the earlier releases they announced during MAX.

These apps are available on the App Store along with others that are steadily being released by many of the developers taking part in the closed beta. As well as downloading those in the video you might also want to take a look at Takayuki Fukatsu’s iPhone Metronome and BlueskyNorth’s FickleBlox.

Flash CS5 will have iPad support

January 29, 2010 · Comments Off

Good news boys and girls. Steve Jobs might be trying his damnedest to keep Flash off all his shiny new toys but that hasn’t stopped Adobe from ensuring that those using the upcoming Flash Pro CS5 will be able to create applications that will run on the iPad. Content compiled using Flash’s iPhone Packager will happily run on the iPad as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch.

It doesn’t look like they’ll support the iPad’s full screen-resolution in the initial release – I guess there’s simply no time left to add any new features before launch, but it’s clear from this quote taken from the Adobe Flash Platform Blog that it won’t be long before full-screen support arrives.

It is our intent to make it possible for Flash developers to build applications that can take advantage of the increased screen size and resolution of the iPad.

Good news and it’ll be interesting to see what innovative applications the Flash community come up with.

iPad v Flash

January 28, 2010 · Comments Off

So here it is: Apple’s latest technical marvel.

No wait a minute, that’s not it! Ah here it is.

Sorry my mistake, but it’s an easy one to make I suppose. After all both are quite large, touch-sensitive, and extremely shiny. Any other similarities? Oh yeah, and neither support Flash, although at least the Monolith’s creators have an excuse seeing as Flash wasn’t around a billion years ago when the Monolith was actually built.

It’s clear Apple hate Flash. It’s clear Apple really want to kill Flash. And it’s clear they have a plan. If their devices can gain enough penetration then the need for Flash will diminish as more sites ditch it to ensure a better experience across Apple’s products.

I’d asked in my previous post whether HTML5 would kill Flash. I think Apple are more of a threat to Flash than any single web standard, and I still firmly believe that Flash’s future lies in its success on mobile.

Will HTML5 kill Flash?

January 26, 2010 · 4 Comments

As a Flash developer I must admit to being curious at YouTube’s HTML5 trial support, removing the need for the Flash player for video playback. Video-centric social networking site Vimeo has also followed suit with its own HTML5 video player beta.

To be honest, until recently I’d been fairly dismissive of HTML5’s chances of ousting Flash from the browser but the reaction from several colleagues has got me a little nervous. “It’s the beginning of the end” said one, whereas another more-or-less implied we should just all give up and go home.

Let’s face it though, Flash does a hell of a lot more than just video so why should I even feel threatened by this? Well theoretically HTML5 should allow more than just video too. In fact, if you believe the hype then anything that can be done in Flash should be do-able directly in the browser.

But let’s address video first. I think it’s fair to say that video is a large part of the web these days. I personally watch several videos each day be it on the BBC website, some interesting links from YouTube, or a tutorial on something like gotoAndLearn. Video is everywhere and for that reason so is Flash.

And if you’ve been keeping up with the progress of the Flash 10.1 player for mobile you would have noticed that Adobe are pushing video playback as a major advantage for having Flash on mobile devices. But what if phone browsers suddenly started supporting HTML5? Would there be such a push from OEMs to have Flash on their handsets? I suppose that depends on the number of sites that eventually embrace HTML5 and that itself really depends on the success of HTML5 across a wide range of browsers.

You just need to quickly scan through the list of caveats posted by both YouTube and Vimeo regarding their HTML5 video players. Anyone using IE or Firefox (and that’s a lot of people) are currently excluded. Vimeo has stated that this means the beta will only work for 25% of it’s users! Full-screen support is also out for both sites, with Vimeo stating that it’s unfortunately a limitation of the browsers right now. Oh and you’ll need to return to using Flash for embed codes.

So far from ideal but hey, it’s early days.

But what if the tide does change? As I said, it’s only video and Flash can do so much more. True but maybe video support on mobile is enough for the time being. After all, not being able to view Flash content on the iPhone has hardly dented Apple’s sales figures has it. I guess there’s a huge amount of content out there that people can do without and with video eventually being available via HTML5, maybe there really isn’t a need for Flash on mobile. Now this could be critical since getting video support onto mobile devices via the Flash 10.1 player would certainly help to stave off HTML5 in the short term.

And if HTML5 becomes the de facto standard for video playback then what next? With its support for canvas drawing there is also no need to use Flash for interactive pictures, charts and graphics; things that we’ve relied on Flash for years now. The simple fact is that the modern web browser is narrowing the gap between what you expect from a standard HTML page and what can be achieved using Flash.

Again though, I think mobile will come into the equation. With more and more people accessing the web on their phones it might boil down to what runs better on a device – apps written using HTML5 and its scripting API or apps written in Flash? It’s clear that Adobe have put a lot of effort into optimising Flash for mobile, but what about the browsers themselves? Content will have to run well on a device or users just won’t bother and the content providers/creators will be accutely aware of this. There’s no point writing for a particular technology if it’s just not going to run well on mobile, and that goes for both Flash 10.1 and HTML5.

Essentially performance and penetration are going to be huge factors, especially on mobile where more and more people are accessing the Internet. Plus more companies are eager to have consistency when viewing their sites across both desktop and mobile.

To be perfectly honest though, I’m not even sure it will come down to the technology. There are so many creative agencies and development teams out there that use Flash daily and are comfortable using the Flash and Flex IDEs. They’ve invested a lot of time and money on these products and may find it hard to give them up for new emerging technologies. There has to be a collective will in order for a shift to take place. Look at Silverlight for example. It’s an impressive web application framework that many confidently predicted would kill off Flash, but over the last few years that will to change just didn’t seem to be there. Will the same happen with HTML5?

So am I worried? To be honest, at the moment, not really. If HTML5 does eventually force Flash out of the picture then it’s not going to happen overnight. The HTML5 specification will still take some time to solidify and its overall success really does rely on a fairly consitent implementation of it appearing across several desktop and mobile browsers. Just take a look at this article regarding a spat between Mozilla and YouTube to see what I mean. It seems that even agreeing on a video codec is too much. Who knows how long it will take for HTML5 video to appear on a wide range of mobile browsers.

What about Adobe? I seem to remember Nokia, to their cost, dismissing Android when it was announced. Let’s hope Adobe don’t make the same mistakes with HTML5 and that it helps drive their business strategy and innovative thinking. For me I think they’re doing the right thing at the moment, which is getting Flash Player 10.1 on as many mobile devices as possible. The sooner they manage that the more chance Flash has of remaining the de facto standard for video playback on the web. And if that’s the case then it will also probably remain the de facto standard for rich Internet applications too.

I’ll leave you with a few quotes I found. The first is taken from the blog of Adobe’s John Dowdell who posted about HTML5 last year.

this whole “HTML5” campaign will likely benefit Flash, because few remain who oppose the idea that “experience matters”. Things are quite a bit different than five years ago. Silverlight’s launch helped boost the popularity of Flash… iPhone helped to radically increase the number of phones with Flash support… the “HTML5” publicity helps marginalize those few who still argue that images, animation, audio/video and rich interactivity have no place on the web. Flash will be able to deliver on those heightened expectations, regardless of what each separate browser engine does.

The other was posted by Lee Brimelow on his blog this morning and suggests that both technologies can quite happily coexist.

Lastly, I would like to dispel the notion that Adobe is somehow against HTML 5. On the contrary, we see it as an exciting development for the web and have our own plans for tooling surrounding it as well. I have always preached to people that they should only use Flash for things that are appropriate. Sites that overuse Flash and provide poor experiences are worse for us than sites that don’t use it at all. Of course there are plenty of JavaScript nightmare sites out there as well.

Dave – A Flash Success Story

January 20, 2010 · Comments Off

Imagine if you could somehow take Google and place it inside a man’s brain then have that man spit out the answer to almost any question you put to him. Well such a person does exist. His name is Dave and I had the great pleasure of working with him for four years at WeeWorld right up until his recent departure for pastures new.

Dave’s the kind of guy who masters almost anything he attempts (shhh, let’s not mention his attempts at violin ;-)) and knows more programming languages than I’ve had hot dinners. I’m not exaggerating when I say he could choose to work for any company in the world using whatever programming language he likes.

His career to-date has included all sorts of impressive stuff such as the development of a Flash player for mobile before Macromedia/Adobe even had one available. But it’s where things headed approximately two years into his employment with WeeWorld though that might start to interest you.

After chomping through several Java and Dot Net projects, Dave was asked to help with some Flash work that was in danger of not making its release date.

At first I was a little apprehensive. Flash was still very much frowned upon by more serious developers and I was unsure if someone of Dave’s ability would actually find ActionScript 2 engaging. There was also the issue of the Flash IDE and whether or not he’d be interested in the very designer-centric drawing and animation tools provided by Flash.

The truth is Dave embraced Flash, design tools and all, and after a few months was easily a better Flash developer than I could ever hope to be. He didn’t look back and soon found himself a more-or-less full-time member of the Flash team where he stayed for the remainder of his time at WeeWorld.

I suppose Dave was also WeeWorld’s first cross-skills success story. When we eventually adopted scrum he was in an ideal position to take-on just about any user story that was prioritised for his team. At the time he was the only person who knew both Dot Net and Flash, and his ability to jump onto other developer’s user stories and help them out paved the way for more developers in the company to get vital cross-skills training.

I must admit that I thought Dave would tire of Flash very quickly and seek employment with another company doing something like C, C# or Java. But when he did eventually decide to move on I was astounded to find out that he had chosen to take on another Flash position.

So why was I so surprised by this? Well to be honest I think maybe three or four years ago anyone with a skill set like Dave’s would probably not be the slightest bit interested in Flash. In fact I have met my fair share of talented programmers over the years who have been rather dismissive of Flash and ActionScript. But the last couple of years have seen quite a shift in opinion towards Flash. More and more CVs that land on my desk are from individuals with strong programming backgrounds in Java and C.

So why is this? Well for a start I think Flash has simply grown up. ActionScript 3 is proof of that. The more developer focused work flow provided by Flex/Flash Builder has also probably done quite a lot to encourage programmers to try Flash. Let’s face it, previously most programmers were scared off by the Flash IDE and its design orientated UI. But probably the biggest reason is that these days Flash is everywhere. It’s hugely beneficial to have it on your CV and if you happen to work for a company producing content for the web then it’s almost a certainty you’ll be exposed to it in some shape or form.

Dave’s career path over the last three years and his role within his new company is, to me anyway, proof of Flash’s success to date. His replacement at WeeWorld is, like him, another talented dude who comes from a very heavy Java and C background. He too is excited by the opportunity to learn more about Flash and ActionScript 3 and I’m sure there are many more talented programmers out there like that who are now finding that they can no longer afford to ignore Flash.

I think I’ve rambled on enough. But before I go I’d just like to wish Dave all the best in his new job – I know you’re reading this post dude because I suspect you’re the only person who actually bothers reading my blog 🙂 Thanks to the wonders of Messenger and Twitter I don’t really feel like you’ve actually left WeeWorld, merely transformed into the force like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn.

May the force be with you.

My Nokia has gone through an 80s time warp!

January 15, 2010 · Comments Off

Just for fun I decided to port my audio cassette music player to mobile. A really strange thing happened though when I actually got it onto my Nokia 5800. As soon as I saw it on the phone’s screen a long forgotten memory from my childhood came back to me of something I hadn’t thought about since the day it happened.

I was playing in my room, and must have been no more than 9 years old. I was suddenly aware of another person being in the room and looked up to find a man who looked strangely familiar standing in front of me. Although I had no idea who he was I was certain he knew me. There seemed to be a bond between the two of us.

For several minutes he just stood there looking at me, seemingly fascinated. I wasn’t affraid but I was growing a tad impatient – I really wanted him to go away so I could play Super Pipeline on my Commodore 64.

Eventually he knelt down beside me and produced what looked like a thin sheet of glass with a cassette trapped behind it. The cassette’s wheels were somehow spinning and I could hear music.

He asked me what I thought. To be honest it kinda spooked me a little and I turned to shout on my Mum. When I looked back he was gone.

Recalling all this, I instantly felt quite bad for not telling the man what I thought. I think I was probably just a little too young to effectively communicate how I felt. But it has got me thinking. What would someone from the eighties think about my Flash Lite demo? Would they like it or be thoroughly unimpressed?

If I ever manage to master the art of time travel (I’m definately close) then I’m gonna make a point of going back to the eighties and asking some dudes what they think.

For anyone who’s interested, the port to Flash Lite 3 was fairly straightforward. It took around two hours and required few modifications to the actual visuals – I scaled down a handful of the clips in the library, converted some stuff to pngs, and flattened the structure somewhat to remove embedded movie clip depth. The biggest task was rewriting the code in ActionScript 2, although again, it was hardly a problem. I tend to find ActionScript 2 a fairly good prototyping language that allows you to get things done relatively quickly, which was the case with this port.

Now if I do manage to go back in time who should I show the demo to first?

Croc & Dare

January 11, 2010 · Comments Off

So how’s my iPhone game coming along? ‘Slowly but surely’ I think would be the best way to describe progress at the moment.

Rigging of the 3D models has been put on hold for a week or two while Alan jumps onto some more pressing freelance jobs he’s been working on.

Coding has begun in one form or another. I’ve thrown together a lot of quick demos in an attempt to gauge just what I can squeeze out of the first generation iPod Touch, which is a tad on the slow side. Most people aren’t aware of it, but there’s quite a difference between the technical specification of the older iPod Touches/iPhones and the more recent models. Yes even Apple are susceptible to fragmentation across their mobile devices. Although I do think they have managed it fairly well.

Oh, and I suppose I might as well let you know what we’re calling the game. Yup, I’m sure you’ve already guessed it from this post’s title. It’s called Croc & Dare.

Some more handsets running Flash Player 10.1

January 9, 2010 · 1 Comment

We’ve seen Flash Player 10.1 running on the Google Nexus and now Adobe have released some more videos showing Flash on a few more handsets. First up is another Android phone – the Motorola Droid. Again performance looks pretty good and Adobe have also chosen to demonstrate Flash running on a few different websites, including www.bbc.com which I visit daily.

The Palm Pre is also getting the Flash 10.1 treatment with the video below showing some Flash-based web games being played. Flash on the Pre was first seen at MAX and since then Adobe have been hard at work tidying certain features, adding hardware acceleration for video support and providing full-screen for games.

It’s not quite ready for release yet but Palm have indicated that it will be available “soon” and will ship as part of an OS update or via their App Store for those who already have the most up-to-date firmware.

Flash 10.1 Coming to Google Nexus One

January 6, 2010 · Comments Off

Adobe released a great video showcasing Flash Player 10.1 running on the brand new Google Nexus One. Now before you rush out and buy one, be aware that the player isn’t available on the phone just yet, but Adobe promise to push it over the web to you as soon as it’s ready.

Performance wise things looked fairly impressive with its Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU seeming to handle the Flash content with relative ease. Admittedly Adobe have no doubt been careful selecting the content to show in the demonstration so I’d really like to see it running across a wider ranger of sites before making a final judgment.

Either way it looks like a step in the right direction and hopefully other phone manufacturers will be able to harness similar performance from their hardware when Flash Player 10.1 makes an appearance on a wider ranger of devices.

So am I tempted to buy the Nexus One? Maybe, but first I think it would need a few simple modifications. A Nokia badge on the front would be a good start, and I’d really like to see a phone that also doubles as a lightsaber. Got a bad feeling that I might end up accidentally cutting off my ear when I try to answer calls though.

I’m not a Nokia hater, honest

January 5, 2010 · Comments Off

Although I subscribe to a few Flash and mobile related groups, I tend not to post that often on them for a few reasons. Firstly, most people’s posts get answered before I have a chance to reply. Secondly I tend to talk rubbish quite often so it’s best I keep my mouth shut.

In fact, keeping a blog is quite a big step for me since my thoughts and opinions are now public knowledge and therefore open to serious disagreement or misinterpretation. However I can be a sensitive soul at times and I try my best not to upset or offend people, although I probably fail miserably at it. I guess I just want to be a nice dude that everybody likes 🙂

In response to a post of mine I recently made on a Flash Lite group, I received the following from Nokia’s Riku Salminen:

It’s not a perfect world and making Flash work on mobile has been a tremendous effort from Adobe and all handset manufacturers involved. Cross device and –platform compatibility being one of the most challenging tasks.

You see I’d implied that Flash Lite can be a bit temperamental across devices, and if you take a look at one of my more recent posts you’ll find that I have also been quite critical of Nokia’s attempts at deploying Flash Lite successfully across their handsets.

It was a great response from Riku and thankfully he took my original post in the best of spirits but it got me thinking that I’d perhaps been overly critical of Nokia. After all, anyone who has gotten to know me over the years will know that I’m a bit of a Nokia fan boy. Sure I don’t exactly have every device that’s come to market but I have a decent wee collection of Nokias that I use for my various Flash Lite tinkerings.

So just for the avoidance of doubt I’d just like to set the record straight. On the whole I think the progress made by Nokia (and the many other handset manufacturers) over the years, deploying Flash Lite on their handsets, has been excellent. Sure mistakes have been made along the way, but the fact remains, they’ve done more than most to support and promote the Flash platform on mobile. It’s why I keep buying their phones.

Now for those who still believe I’m a Nokia hater, here’s a photo that might change your mind. It was taken during the summer on a trip to England to see Pearl Jam and was one of only three photographs I had my brother take of me that day (including all my time spent at the Pearl Jam gig).