Flash

Macromedia Flash (later Adobe Flash) was a multimedia internet browser plug-in that enabled animations, video, and interactive content material on web sites. Flash was an especially common plug-in for greater than a decade, however it will definitely fell out of favor resulting from a mixture of efficiency and safety issues and the introduction of HTML5 and its multimedia options.

Originally known as FutureSplash Animator and launched in 1996, Flash first grew to become common as a vector-based animation software. It allowed folks to simply create animations that could possibly be performed back in any internet browser with the Flash plug-in put in. Later updates launched ActionScript (an object-oriented programming language that added new ranges of interactivity) and assist for high-quality video streaming. By 2010 the Flash plug-in was included by default with most internet browsers, and it was frequent to see interactive video games, streaming video, and even whole web sites constructed using Flash.

However, the Flash plug-in had its drawbacks. It was very resource-intensive when content material was enjoying, shortly draining batteries on laptop computer computer systems. The plug-in additionally proved to be a safety threat that allowed an assault vector for malware. The lack of assist for Flash on Apple’s iPhone, and rising browser assist for HTML5 video, in the end precipitated Adobe to finish assist for the Flash plug-in in 2020. The animation software itself was renamed Adobe Animate and now helps HTML5, WebGL, and SVG animation output.

NOTE: “Flash” may confer with flash reminiscence. Erasing a flash reminiscence cell is commonly known as “flashing” the reminiscence.