Google puts another nail in Adobe Flash’s coffin

July 31, 2014 - David Hall
Category: Marketing,Mobile Websites

Web developers have discontinued creating Flash-based websites for some time now for many reasons, one being, the technology is not supported by iOS or on Android 4.1 and higher mobile devices. As a result, users may see blank pages or missing content and images. Further, a recent article in techcrunch.com that was published on July 15, 2014 mentioned Google will soon display a message notifying mobile users prior to selecting a Flash-based website.

As you can see below, Google has already implemented their messaging. This entire website was built in Flash. The screenshot to the right is from a search result on an iPhone 5.

Google also warns that websites written with un-supportable code may see a drop in traffic due to decreased rankings.

So how do you know if you have a Flash-based website? There are a couple of easy ways to check.

From a desktop computer simply right click using your mouse on the animation. Here is an example below that indicates the use of Flash.

Or, the most obvious way is to view your website from a mobile iOS or Android 4.1 and higher device. (Most mobile user are using these devices now.) This is a screenshot of the home page view from an iPhone 5. Each page of this website renders the same page view. Unfortunately for this dentist he is losing out on a large number of new Internet patients.

To sum things up, check your website to ensure that it has not been built in Flash. If you discover you have Flash, then the best advice is to convert your website to responsive design. Responsive design provides the user with a good experience whether the website is viewed from a desktop or any mobile device.

If you would like to learn more about responsive design, contact us at 480-273-8888 for more details and a demo. You can also view our mobile website portfolio to see some of the responsive designs.