It was recently announced by Google’s technical lead on Chrome, Anthony LaForge, that the full support of Google Chrome on Flash will end during the last quarter of 2016. According to the report, after that time, Google will now only provide flash activation to 10 websites. These websites include Facebook, Twitch, Amazon and some Russian website like Yandex.ru. Although Flash was previously not being recommended, LaForge’s announcement is the concrete announcement that is coming from Google.
What Will Happen Now?
If the website that you are visiting is not part of those websites that were exempted from the removal of flash support and where only flash support is available, you will see a pop-up that will ask you on whether to run the software or not. To make the appearance of the pop-up less annoying, Chrome will remember your last action regarding the pop-up on whether to run software or not.
Why Is Facebook Exempted?
Of course, you wouldn’t be asking that question if you haven’t heard of the report that Facebook actually stopped supporting the use of Flash in 2015. So why are they still exempted when you visit Facebook on Google Chrome? It is because of the fact that although Facebook killed off Flash support, there are parts which they cannot totally kill off and it is still being used by a lot of facebook users, this particular part of Facebook is the Games on the social networking site. The games run of flash because it is difficult to replicate such using alternative web technologies.
Reasons For Phasing Out Flash Support
Now you might be wondering why Google Chrome is phasing out Flash Support. If you read more about browser support on flash there were already several browsers who also terminated flash support. The reason for this are the following:
- Not Crawlable – for websites using Flash, the sites aren’t crawlable by search engine bots or spiders unless you implement measures to make it crawlable which are not required in non-flash websites. This is why flash-based websites are not able to rank better on any Search Engine. Today, as a substitute to Flash, most web developer now uses HTML5 to develop their websites.
- Heavy on Files – running a flash based program will take its toll on your bandwidth and speed. Flash files are heavy and make your browsing experience run slow.
- Security Hole – Flash has been the favorite target for hackers because of its security holes. In the recent article written by Paul Ducklin for Sophos, he said that it is the third time in three months that Flash released a patch to plug security vulnerabilities.
What do you think about this news from Google Chrome? Please do comment your thoughts at the comment section below.
