Image via tech site Ars Technica

According to the venerable tech website Ars Technica, Google has announced by the end of the year its Chrome browser will display Adobe Flash animations only if you actively click on them. By the end of the 2016 Chrome will disable Flash altogether!

Google will be taking another step towards an HTML5-only Web later this year, as the systematic deprecation and removal of Flash continues.

In a plan outlined last week, Flash will be disabled by default in the fourth quarter of this year. Embedded Flash content will not run, and JavaScript attempts to detect the plugin will not find it. Whenever Chrome detects that a site is trying to use the plugin, it will ask the user if they want to enable it or not. It will also trap attempts to redirect users to Adobe’s Flash download page and similarly offer to enable the plugin.

Source: Ars Technica

I’m mostly fine with this. I appreciate that some games are available only in Flash, but I imagine you’ll always be able to open those games in special, non-web-browser apps. Like, oh, say the Adobe Flash Player!

But otherwise the only remaining uses for Flash tend to be ads, malware, and really, really old websites.

Forgive me for putting in a plug here but if your website is still using Flash animations in its main content — in splash pages for instance or, worse, for menus it’s time to update your site.

This might be the place where I’d make a pitch for hiring RealBasics.com to rebuild your site… and sure, we’d be delighted. But instead I’d like to say that if your site is old enough to still be using Flash you should hire any credible, local web developer or designer.

Preferably before the end of 2016 and definitely before the end of 2017!