- Jun 9, 2013
- 6,720
Users won't probably notice, but developers will
Facebook announced today that will no longer serve videos via Flash anymore, ditching the much-maligned technology for the newer, cooler, and much safer HTML5 alternative.
At the end of January, YouTube announced it was giving up Flash and replacing it with HTML5 video by default for all its users. The move was extremely well received, and soon after more and more services started following Google's lead.
Over the summer, Facebook hired Alex Stamos as CSO (Chief Security Officer), formerly at Yahoo. Soon after Mr. Stamos was hired, he made some waves over the summer, when he publicly asked Adobe to announce an EoL (End of Life) timeline for Flash. While there are other reasons why Facebook says it ditched Flash, this may have also played a big part.
People are engaging more with the new HTML5 player
According to Facebook's Daniel Baulig, outside well-known security reasons, HTML5 also had some benefits, such as the dev teams ability to quickly deploy site-wide changes without having to recompile the player's SWF file every time, integration with well-established code testing platforms, and better accessibility (a11y) support.
"Not only did launching the HTML5 video player make development easier, but it also improved the video experience for people on Facebook," says Mr. Baulig. "Videos now start playing faster. People like, comment, and share more on videos after the switch, and users have been reporting fewer bugs."
Full article. Facebook Ditches Flash for HTML5 Video
Facebook announced today that will no longer serve videos via Flash anymore, ditching the much-maligned technology for the newer, cooler, and much safer HTML5 alternative.
At the end of January, YouTube announced it was giving up Flash and replacing it with HTML5 video by default for all its users. The move was extremely well received, and soon after more and more services started following Google's lead.
Over the summer, Facebook hired Alex Stamos as CSO (Chief Security Officer), formerly at Yahoo. Soon after Mr. Stamos was hired, he made some waves over the summer, when he publicly asked Adobe to announce an EoL (End of Life) timeline for Flash. While there are other reasons why Facebook says it ditched Flash, this may have also played a big part.
People are engaging more with the new HTML5 player
According to Facebook's Daniel Baulig, outside well-known security reasons, HTML5 also had some benefits, such as the dev teams ability to quickly deploy site-wide changes without having to recompile the player's SWF file every time, integration with well-established code testing platforms, and better accessibility (a11y) support.
"Not only did launching the HTML5 video player make development easier, but it also improved the video experience for people on Facebook," says Mr. Baulig. "Videos now start playing faster. People like, comment, and share more on videos after the switch, and users have been reporting fewer bugs."
Full article. Facebook Ditches Flash for HTML5 Video
