The Great Black Turtleneck has spoken, and he has decreed Adobe Flash to be a thing of the past. Now, it seems, despite many hopes to the contrary, Flash will never be supported on the iPhone or the iPad. But is Steve Jobs right? Is Flash obsolete? Is it a thing of the past to be cast aside, like VRML or Vanilla Ice? I don't think Flash is going anywhere, at least any time soon. There are many great articles out there that go into greater detail for the more tech-savvy, but here's a basic rundown, for designers and business owners considering using flash, of why I think Flash is still worthwhile.

1. Compatibility

Jobs talks a lot about HTML5 - the next major revision of the language of the World Wide Web. HTML5 will have a lot of cool features including a canvas element, timed media playback, offline storage, document editing, drag and drop capability, and exciting font handling, so there is a lot to get excited about. The only problem is browser compatibility. The HTML5 VIDEO tag is a great example: Safari and Chrome both support it, Firefox supports the tag but doesn't support decoding currently used by YouTube and Vimeo, and Internet Explorer doesn't support it at all without a plugin. A flash video, however, works in all browsers just fine. Designers and programmers the world over have been cursing Microsoft and their terrible internet browser for years as being a main reason for holding back web development, and I suspect IE will continue to disappoint us. With about a third of people still using some version of Internet Explorer, it's best to use a format most of us can enjoy.

2. Animation and Interactivity

While its true that HTML5 will have some 2D animation capability, and that many cool little interactive animations can be made with some advanced Javascript, they pale in comparison to what can be achieved in Flash. It's a great way to draw attention, and animated, interactive ads are a staple on most news and blog sites, often popping up and overlaying content, and even syncing with other ads on the screen (ironically, like this Apple ad). These aren't going away any time soon. Flash can also add extra impact and interactivity to your web design in ways HTML5 and Javascript simply can't. I think it will continue to be an effective tool to get your message across to the user. But what about if my user's on an iPhone or iPad, you ask? No problem. A good web designer should embed the Flash in such a way that if it can't be displayed for whatever reason, it's replaced with static content that will display properly in all browsers. It might also be a good idea to consider a second design tailored to mobile browsers, that will let your user access the data they need with ease while using very little bandwidth.

3. User Experience
There's a reason Flash is used on nearly every single movie website: it creates an unparalleled user experience. A well-built flash site or element mixes together video, audio, and interactivity in ways no one else can, and I think that's the biggest difference between home and mobile browsing. Mobile browsing on tools like the Blackberry, iPhone, and iPad, with their relatively small screens, low computing power and poor audio capabilities, will continue to be for finding information quickly and conveniently. Home computers, with their large, vivid screens, surround sound speakers, subwoofers, and DVD players have become media centers. They are, and will continue to be the place the majority of people will do their browsing, at least in the next several years. These computers are the perfect place to experience the best that the web has to offer, including in-depth, interactive Flash work. Here are just a few examples to show you what I mean - just don't try to view them on an iPad. =)

(Note that these are cutting-edge sites and may take a moment to load.)

We Choose the Moon - http://www.wechoosethemoon.org/
NASA's real-time recreation of the historic Apollo 11 mission

Verbatim Monster Championship - http://www.verbatim.jp/senshuken/
Verbatim Japan's awesome website that allows the user to create a creature out of various Verbatim writable media and fight other creations from across the world.

Wrangler Blue Bell Jeans - http://www.bluebelljeans.com/
Discover the Wrangler Blue Bell Spring/Summer 2010 collection, take control of Tony Ward and make him dance.

Whether you're creating an in-depth user experience like the sites listed above, or adding a bit of extra eye-candy to your website, Flash still has a lot to offer.