Silly Flasher, Intros are for Newbies
The evolution of the Flash Platform has been an incredible display of growth and adaptation of a product. The Flash Platform, as most of us know, is now more than just simply vector animation software, and it has been fun to watch the Flash community shape the web with their endless creativity combined with the improved power of Actionscript and the technology around the Flash Player.
Flash is no longer just a tool for creating banner ads, and website intros. Today, it's a Platform that allows designers and developers alike to turn loose their creative instincts. While there are valid arguments for using other technologies in some cases, today, Flash is still the most versatile technology available for creating Rich Internet Applications.
From time to time, I run across articles that STILL talk about how bad Flash is for the web, and folks who STILL fault Adobe and the Flash Player for websites that have bad implementations, and SEO experts who STILL freak out when they see Flash on a website. It blows me away. Really.
Flash, as a technology, has come a long way in the last decade, and while it doesn't make sense in every situation, Flash is just a "given" in other situations. Below I've listed the cases or categories where Flash just makes sense on the web. I've also included a few examples of pretty good implementations (I would be willing to bet that these developers were glad they had the Flash player available in their bag of tricks). If I've forgotten any, feel free to call me out in the comments.
Data Visualization
SpatialKey
SpatialKey is a next generation Information Visualization, Analysis and Reporting System. It is designed to help organizations quickly assess location based information critical to their organizational goals, decision making processes and reporting requirements.
Image Manipulation
Picnik
Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames.
It's fast, easy, and fun.
Pixlr
Pixlr is a free online photo editor, jump in and start edit, adjust, filter. It's just what you imagine!
Splashup and Splashup Light
Taking some cues from Splashup, Splashup Light also has powerful tools for advanced image editing enthusiasts like Levels, Hue - Saturation and Brightness - Contrast. Together with standards tools like rotate, crop, resize and many fun effects, Splashup Light is a well-rounded photo editor perfect for those that don't need or want heavy desktop image editing suites.
Realtime Multi-User Applications
Adobe ConnectNow
With Adobe ConnectNow at Acrobat.com, you can meet live over the web and share your screen with anyone.
SlideRocket
SlideRocket is the leader in online presentation software. With SlideRocket you quickly make stunning presentations, manage a library of slides and assets, share them securely with colleagues, and measure how they're used. SlideRocket redefines what presentations can do and what they can do for you.
Interactive Video
Viddler
With Viddler, your audience can easily interact with your videos by posting timed tags and timed comments inside of them. It's even possible to record a video comment, or to create a special Digg button tag.
Fun and Games
Scrapblog
Create personalized scrapbooks with your photos, video and thousands of creative elements. Share them online with our community, send them by email, or post them to your favorite websites. Print your scrapblogs for a truly personalized keepsake for you or to give to others as a gift.
Club Penguin
Club Penguin is a snow-covered, virtual world where children play games and interact with friends in the guise of colourful penguin avatars.
Webkinz
Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code. With it, you enter Webkinz World where you care for your virtual pet, answer trivia, earn KinzCash, and play the best kids games on the net!
3D on the Web
Ecodazoo.com
Ecodazoo.com is a really slick example of 3D in Flash
Playsmart.jp
Playsmart.jp is a fun 3D interactive promo site for the Smart car.
Audi RS6
Audi promo site for the Audi RS6.
3 Responses
Hey Jason! Yeah, I totally agree. That raises a good question. I would be interested to know how many programs are actually teaching RIA design and development.
Well…Their loss
I talk to IT guys that I went to school with that still think Flash is nothing but heavy front end eye candy. The same goes for several people in the IT department for the company I work for. This makes me wonder if/when universities will begin to focus more on Flash/Flex/AIR as a means to an end with their own IT programs. So far, and you can attest to this as can I, most universities seem to be behind the curve and only offer Flash based courses as part of a Digital Media program (ie. Graphic Design, 3D Modeling, etc.). If there were a campus offering an Enterprise Level RIA program with the ability to specialize in Flex/Flash/AIR, you would see some students with skillsets far ahead of the competition when they graduated.
Oh well, one can only hope…