Flash was an
integral part of the internet in years past, but it has also been a drag on
performance and the source of a great many security vulnerabilities. Today,
HTML5 is a better way to get the same sort of interactive content running on
the web, and it works on mobile devices. The next phase in Adobe Flash’s
agonizingly slow demise starts next month when Google Chrome begins blocking
all Flash content.
This will
come as part of the Chrome 53 update, which should be available in early
September. Chrome 53 will block all the small, non-visible Flash elements on
web pages. These are usually tacking platforms and page analytics, but they can
slow down page loads just like larger Flash content. This is not Google’s first
attempt to de-emphasize Flash on the web. Last year in Chrome 52, Google made
most Flash content “click-to-play.”
So, what’s
different now? In Chrome 52, the Flash block only applied to Flash objects that
were above a certain size, but now that’s being extended to smaller Flash
objects. The previous restriction was in place because at the time, there was
no reliable way to detect viewability. Now, Chrome’s intersection observer API
allows that. You will have the option to enable Flash objects on a page if they
are necessary for the experience. If non-visible Flash objects are blocked, an
icon in the address bar will alert you.
Google says
that all Chrome users will see a benefit from this move. All the Flash objects
loading in the background can make page loading sluggish. If you’re on a laptop,
Flash also gobbles up power and reduces your battery life. Flash’s innate
inefficiency is why it never took off on mobile devices.
While Flash
content will be blocked in general, Google is making a temporary exception for
some popular sites that still rely heavily upon Flash. Those include Facebook,
Twitch, and Yahoo, among others. You’ll be prompted to enable Flash on these
sites when loading them, but Google plans to phase out the Flash whitelist over
time. When Chrome 55 rolls out in December, HTML5 will become the default
experience. It’s not clear how exactly that will affect the whitelist.
The writing
is on the wall for Flash; it’s not just Google waging a war on the archaic
plug-in. Firefox 48 was announced last week with some Flash content being
click-to-play and all Flash being blocked by default in 2017. Even Microsoft is
cutting Flash off at the knees. In the Windows 10 anniversary update, Edge uses
click-to-play for non-essential Flash elements. Another year or two and we’ll
be all done with this.
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