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Smokescreen - a Flash player written in Javascript and HTML5

smokescreen.us

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Re: Smokescreen - a Flash player written in Javascript and HTML5

#14

Post by not_an_alien »

NathanKP wrote: post #3

Very interesting! Running the Smokescreen JavaScript flash player did not cause my battery life to go down like normal flash does. I always watch that when I am running a flash YouTube video or flash game. It will be interesting to see how the performance works with more complex games.

Did you run Smokescreen with the same SWF you used in FP? How long was your test, and what was the battery drop in both?

Tell me you're not comparing the decompression and rendering of a video against a simple animation.

Re: Smokescreen - a Flash player written in Javascript and HTML5

#16

Post by snprbob86 »

Sthorpe wrote: post #12

Its amazing that Apple has caused innovation by banning flash. I wonder if this is sustainable, maybe an example of innovation?

I think it is just further proof that necessity is the mother of invention.

Flash was invented out of a need for artists to be able to create animations on the web. Now there is a back catalog of Flash content which is losing a home. A swf player of some kind is needed to preserve that content. Someone had to build this.

Re: Smokescreen - a Flash player written in Javascript and HTML5

#18

Post by Sthorpe »

snprbob86 wrote: post #16
Sthorpe wrote: post #12

Its amazing that Apple has caused innovation by banning flash. I wonder if this is sustainable, maybe an example of innovation?

I think it is just further proof that necessity is the mother of invention. Flash was invented out of a need for artists to be able to create animations on the web. Now there is a back catalog of Flash content which is losing a home. A swf player of some kind is needed to preserve that content. Someone had to build this.

I completely agree with you. However, I don't think this is a invention directly out of necessity. Instead, I would say closed systems with a controlled goal might be the fertilizer for a better design.

Re: Smokescreen - a Flash player written in Javascript and HTML5

#19

Post by zweben »

kierank wrote: post #17

What I don't understand is all the people praising HTML5 because it uses less CPU than Flash yet Chrome ends up using 15-20% CPU just to render a simple animation unlike Flash.

Some people probably just assume that switching to HTML5 content always uses fewer CPU resources. There are plenty of informed reasons to prefer HTML content over Flash though. One is that putting performance into the hands of multiple companies will introduce competition. Just like with Javascript speeds, you can expect browser-makers to start racing in other areas of HTML5 performance.

I wouldn't be surprised to see HTML5 outperform equivalent Flash content in a year or so.

Re: Smokescreen - a Flash player written in Javascript and HTML5

#20

Post by tvon »

kierank wrote: post #17

What I don't understand is all the people praising HTML5 because it uses less CPU than Flash yet Chrome ends up using 15-20% CPU just to render a simple animation unlike Flash.

I believe this example is a SWF running in Canvas (as opposed to vanilla HTML5).

Regardless, with HTML5 you have all the benefits of an OSS rendering engine where performance can be improved by individual implementors (eg, Apple improving WebKit on A4/ARM) or groups of developers with similar interests (eg, Google/Apple/other contributors to WebKit for x86). Where as with Adobe's Flash plugin, you're pretty much reduced to hoping or praying that Adobe will fix problems relevant to your interests.

In other words, the performance may suck now in some demos, but the situation is better than relying on Adobe... for some companies anyway.

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