Flash to HTML5 / JS App

tsafi said

MBMedia said
And no, I won’t shut-up until I put myself out of business by making sure every other AD author makes mobile friendly stuff so that mine isn’t even special any more!

What’s that friendly issue about? All we do is add HTML mockup into our flash website in the name of SEO issue, in the flash glory days we didn’t give crap about this issue(as evidence the option of SEO was there from day 1) … the dream 1 flash to all media will never happened + very limited buyer will want to involve them self with 2 technology, I mean those ordinary buyer can’t do minimal HTML modification so they go easy with WP cos it’s much more easy do modify..

They don’t have to modify it My buyers don’t have to write a lick of HTML code, the template uses the XML for that as well.

Now I’ve even got a full CMS for them that installs with zero database setup or anything, just upload and log-in. Right now my latest template is easier to install and start editing than wordpress is.

And I don’t say that blindly either, at one point I was the #2 highest selling author on the only theme marketplace that really competes even close at all with TF (pretty sure I can’t mention names in forum though…), and one of my themes over there as been on the top seller list for 24 weeks. I’m not speaking of techs I don’t know or use, and right now my latest flash template is easier and requires less pre-assumed knowledge to set up and use than any wordpress theme I’ve ever made Is that for everyone? No. WordPress has it’s place, and it’s a bigger slice of the market than flash. But that doesn’t mean flash’s slice is gone, just means people need to catch up with the newer standards of ease/accessibility that buyers expect

^You take it to the extreme; I was talking about changing color .

And SEO with flash was always there from 2006 we just got to sloppy/lazy (cutting expanse) making it and now we try to bring it into the table in the name of SEO /mobile, my clients are not idiotic you know, i can’t sell them this in the name of mobile they are evolving also .

Fact is you look here not much change with flash tamp` you don’t see any stunning stuff with flash, just plain same flash site cos` no one that crazy working for a month and get 10 sells ,not to mention flash 3D no one work with it any more or try to step up .

You say people need to catch up? You are very optimistic; i wish i thought the same but like many there is just less and less flash work and even if I love the book Don Quijote de la Mancha I am far away from that man fighting against wind turbine ……

tsafi said
^You take it to the extreme; I was talking about changing color .

And SEO with flash was always there from 2006 we just got to sloppy/lazy (cutting expanse) making it and now we try to bring it into the table in the name of SEO /mobile, my clients are not idiotic you know, i can’t sell them this in the name of mobile they are evolving also .

Fact is you look here not much change with flash tamp` you don’t see any stunning stuff with flash, just plain same flash site cos` no one that crazy working for a month and get 10 sells ,not to mention flash 3D no one work with it any more or try to step up .

You say people need to catch up? You are very optimistic; i wish i thought the same but like many there is just less and less flash work and even if I love the book Don Quijote de la Mancha I am far away from that man fighting against wind turbine ……

Yeah, the SEO was always there, but I didn’t use it either unless people asked for it The mobile issue is just so much more public and important to clients in my mind.

But I don’t get why you can’t sell that to your clients. I mean, if the site you are developing is better done in HTML , then by all means do it that way, I build HTML sites for clients too when it’s best that way. But if the site would look/function better in flash then telling your clients you can also make that flash mobile friendly is a HUGE selling point in my experience. I’m not saying use it as an excuse to use flash where it’s not beneficial, I’m saying use it as a way to not have to throw away flash even when it is beneficial, because that’s what I see happening a lot. And I’ve had lots of success with clients being happy with flash in that situation.

I’m also not saying that the old days of microstock will come back. XML templates thrived because even though flash was a specialty tool that was never intended to dominate the web, editing HTML templates was much harder, so XML was the easy microstock alternative and flash dominated XML . Now with wordpress that advantage is negated and flash is settling back to being a specialty tool.

I agree that the microstock slice of the market for flash templates should be the smaller slice by far, but I also think that the dip we are seeing is ENORMOUSLY more than it would be if we all worked towards mobile friendly sites, and especially if more of us worked towards content managed sites. Flash is still the specialty minority tool, not the market dominator, I’m not trying to make it dominate, but I don’t think there’s any reason for the flash template microstock world to obliterate either, it has it’s place as long as we keep up with new demands.

^Clients are very influence from the overall trend…well we can talk all day we better stop, cos ` in an hour or so Barca play

MB you’re definitely going the extra mile to ensure maximum compatibility. Hell, your most recent work is just worth it for the CMS system alone.

I guess a lot of authors will think… ‘It’s a flash site! Why do I need to consider writing a fall back mechanism for mobile sites otherwise I would have written it for the HTML category?’ Think of the work as well. You’re having to write a fully driven flash site and your own CMS system. Now compare it with WP. The CMS is already in place, no worries there. Create one theme… Make it responsive… All you really have to do is know a bit of HTML , js and css and you can create any theme you like. The effort to time ratio is a lot less.

Although for you, because you already have the CMS system in place your development time might actually be similar or even quicker dare I say.

All that being said, I reckon if Flash authors do NOT consider writing some sort of fallback for mobile sites Flash will almost certainly die.

iamthwee said
Although for you, because you already have the CMS system in place your development time might actually be similar or even quicker dare I say.

Bingo With the framework I have in place and use for the flash templates, Ivory took a total of 2 weeks from design to development to documentation, and 1 week of that was just the design. The CMS took a long time to initially build…but now that it’s done I can apply it to a new template in minutes (including custom options and adding new page modules to edit).

Can I ask an obvious question?

Tell if I’m being stupid, but I’m looking at your most recent theme and I’m thinking (excluding a few intricacies like properly cross platform motion blur and let’s ignore video content for the moment even though HTML5 may provide a solution for that) could not a very similar one be developed in soley html & Js?

If that is the case, (OK development time is going to be more tedious (God I soo hate JQuery syntax) compared with AS3 ) but I mean this way you bypass flash altogether and leverage your sales?

I am by no means an ANTI -Flash boy btw. I love flash… Just wanted to get your opinion on that one?

iamthwee said
Can I ask an obvious question?

Tell if I’m being stupid, but I’m looking at your most recent theme and I’m thinking (excluding a few intricacies like properly cross platform motion blur and let’s ignore video content for the moment even though HTML5 may provide a solution for that) could not a very similar one be developed in soley html & Js?

If that is the case, (OK development time is going to be more tedious (God I soo hate JQuery syntax) compared with AS3 ) but I mean this way you bypass flash altogether and leverage your sales?

I am by no means an ANTI -Flash boy btw. I love flash… Just wanted to get your opinion on that one?

Similar, yes. Quite as good? Only if half the backgrounds/video players/ etc are in flash anyway…

But there’s 2 other things I want to point out on that line:

1) AD sells templates alongside other simpler files and components, rather than it being 2 separate marketplaces. Meaning once I have a dozen or so templates I can start making tons of page modules for sale that can work in any of my templates, all for sale on AD as well. It’s an aspect of AD that isn’t really available in other marketplaces, envato or not, and I think I can take pretty good advantage of it. And in those modules, that’s where you’ll start seeing crazy 3D galleries and such

2) I JUST built the CMS …the CMS is the magic that takes the cool front end and makes it easy on the back end, so who says that’s not exactly what I’m doing with it right now? Converting it to edit HTML sites driven by the same XML files as well, and using flash backgrounds, video players, etc to make them badarse? foreshadowment…....