Flash Developer Explains Why Flash on iPad Just Won't Work
A dyed-in-the-wool Adobe Flash developer explains why virtually no existing Flash content can ever be made to work right on a touchscreen device. Daniel Eran Dilger of Roughly Drafted magazine points out that without the ability to recognize or translate the mouse hover action on an iPhone or iPad or similar system, almost all Flash content will behave incorrectly if at all. Great point.
"So it’s not just that Apple has refused to support Flash. It cannot, logically, be done. A finger is not a mouse, and Flash sites are designed to require a mouse pointer (and keyboard) in fundamental ways. Someday that may change, and every Flash site could be redesigned with touch-friendly Flash. But that doesn’t make Flash sites work now," he summarizes. Dilger points out that it is possible to re-design and re-code Flash sites to avoid the problem, as he did with his own site by substituting CSS animations for Flash movement when serving to an iPhone visitor. But this will require work on the part of the Flash-oriented developer.
So why shouldn't Apple enable Flash on the iThingies and shrug to its users, "Well, if the Flash site isn't well designed for use by a touchscreen device, it's their fault, not ours"? Because as Dilger observes, most users would be far more upset about a broken experience than about the experience just not being available. He's absolutely right.
