
Daring Fireball: Going Flash-Free on Mac OS X, and How to Cheat When You Need It - barredo
http://daringfireball.net/2010/11/flash_free_and_cheating_with_google_chrome
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CoryOndrejka
Doing this in Firefox will result in an annoying "install missing plugins"
warning from Firefox. You can click the "x" but to suppress the warning:

* go to about:config

* search on plugin.default_plugin_disabled.

* set to false

~~~
Chullish
Keep the Flashblocker extension enabled it'll prevent the "missing plugins
warning" with the added benefit of giving a visual indication that a webpage
uses flash incase you'd like to switch to a different browser. With the
plugin.default_plugin_disabled set to false I'd miss out on embedded youtube
videos (I can't find a youtube html5 converter for firefox)

~~~
DLWormwood
One of the key points about Gruber’s article is that he actually _wants_ the
situation you are trying to avoid. Basically, he wants to see how many of his
websites will present HTML5 based content if the website detects a missing
Flash install. ClickToFlash (not sure about Flashblocker) pretends to be
Flash, as far as most browser detection scripting is concerned. Otherwise, it
wouldn't know there is Flash to be defered in the first place.

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tomlin
"We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. As of today, there are
significant performance and battery life gains to be had by disabling Flash
Player on Mac OS X."

No, we won't "cross that bridge". Colour me skeptic, but I've yet to see DF
admit to any of the insufficiencies of HTML5 over Flash.

When confronted with contrarian proofs, the average Steve Jobs allegiant will
cite other FUD grab-bags (ex: security issues, battery life, etc.). It's
tiring to watch intelligent people pushing HTML5 based on fallacy after
fallacy. Everyone wants HTML5 to evolve, but not by the hand of bullshit.

~~~
larrywright
You're missing the point. I don't think anyone believes that HTML5 does
everything Flash does. That said, for the things that people use Flash mostly
for these days, such as video, audio, and animation, HTML5 does just fine.

What people like Gruber are reacting to is the craptastic Flash ads that
permeate websites today, and the negative effect that they have on performance
and battery life.

~~~
tomlin
I've only missed the point if Gruber's points are agnostic. I know they
aren't.

> video - kinda. The RTMP equivalent implementation isn't quiet as easy as
> RTMP.

> animation - this is the kind of bs I'm talking about. Having done complex
> timeline animation in Flash and JS (with WebWorkers) I can say with all
> honesty that it is not _just fine_ with HTML5+JS. JS-based timeline
> animation is clunky at best and incredibly time consuming.

~~~
ugh
HTML5 and Javascript don’t have to be as good as Flash. They only have to
capture the most common use cases.

~~~
tomlin
You're right, they don't. I'm still looking for where it is proven that a
well-coded Flash site is inferior to a well-coded HTML5+JS site in terms of
_battery life_.

No one can seem to give a tangible, legible reason why Flash has the
unreasonably holy authority to drain battery power.

~~~
raganwald
Ahh, the No True Scotsman fallacy again!

Hamish: No Flash site is inferior to its HTML5 equivalent in terms of battery
life.

Angus: Youtube's Flash implementation uses more battery than their HTML5
equivalent on my machine.

Hamish: No _well-coded_ Flash site is inferior to its HTML5 equivalent in
terms of battery life.

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/No_true_Scots...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/No_true_Scotsman)

~~~
tomlin
> Angus: Youtube's Flash implementation uses more battery than their HTML5
> equivalent on my machine.

Apologies for this, it seems to have _evidence_ in it:
<http://apiblog.youtube.com/2010/06/flash-and-html5-tag.html>

It's hard for me to compare HTML5 to Flash if the Flash version has a
truckload of abilities being used that _cannot be utilized in HTML5_. What's
so hard to understand about this?

Does the MacBook fan only come on for Flash? It seems unlikely. Seems like it
might engage for CPU-intensive processes that contain audio, video, Internet
access (WiFi or 3G isn't cheap on the battery) and a mixture of other
features.

I'm not trying to get any one to agree to Flash being _better_. I just don't
see an equal argument. Ever.

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commandar
Funny thing is that since upgrading from a G1 to a G2 last week, I've gotten a
definite sense that while Flash isn't end all be all, having Flash available
makes the web experience more whole.

On my G1, browsing was a quick bit of text here and there; with the G2 I don't
think twice when a site links to something like Vimeo. It just works. It's the
web.

I can't understand intentionally taking that away from yourself.

~~~
rimantas

      I don't think twice when a site links to something like
      Vimeo. It just works. It's the web.
    

It does the same for me too. On iPhone. Without Flash. The web, indeed.

~~~
commandar
Then choose any of the other embedded media scattered across the web that
hasn't already catered to iOS.

Point is I don't have to shrug my shoulders and say "guess I can't check out
this content because I'm on a mobile device" anymore. I don't have to think in
terms of real web vs mobile web, which I was certainly doing before.

~~~
rimantas

      Then choose any of the other embedded media scattered
      across the web that hasn't already catered to iOS.
    

The thing is that most of the cases where I may want to check something out is
already made to work with iOS. I guess we think differently of what "real web"
is. For me it is built on HTTP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

~~~
commandar
For me, it's any content I may find interesting. I don't care what format it's
presented in. You're making a technical distinction, I'm making a content-
based one.

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alanh
I do the opposite, disabling Flash in chrome (about:plugins) and using Safari
when I really need Flash to access stubborn websites.

However, no Youtube5-like extension for Chrome seems to work for me.

~~~
tvon
I believe anyone can opt-in to the YouTube HTML5 trial:
<http://www.youtube.com/html5>

~~~
alanh
It doesn't affect embedded YouTube videos across the web.

That's the problem YouTube5 solves.

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andrewhake
Inspired me:

<http://www.andrewandoru.com/2010/11/05/labs-flashy/>

flashy! is an AppleScript applet that makes the simple simpler by
automatically enabling and disabling the Flash plug-in by moving the
appropriate components from their normal directory, and placing them in a
“.disabled” directory for safekeeping.

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bilban
Interesting point about the future of the web. That's a horrible idea that
HTML 5 will be able to run rampant in my backgrounded tabs - certainly an itch
that needs scratching...

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bilban
Flash is such a waste of CPU cycles, I disable flash, and lots of other things
in my primary browser. If I need to view flash I'll fire up chrome.

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EthanEtienne
I think you need Perian installed to make the youtube html5 extension work. I
tried getting rid of flash a few days ago, and youtube didn't work for me most
of the time. I saw this post from Gruber again tonight, and then saw that the
youtube html5 plugin noted that 480p is always encoded in flash (I forgot what
codec it is). Installing Perian did the trick for me (so far anyway).

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bilban
Seems a shame that a browser can't pick it's preferred format.

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frou_dh
My cheat is having Flash and Silverlight installed in my Windows VM. Having to
wake up a VM is a bit cumbersome, but I don't often feel the need.

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factotvm
I bypass the GUI all together and find battery life is increased even further!

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zackattack
what's the best Click To Flash extension for Chrome?

the downside to hiding flash is that your brain no longer can feed on the ads
that users are being exposed to - you don't know what the trends are, etc.

~~~
kylec
Chrome has the functionality built in - just go into Settings -> Under the
Hood -> Content Settings -> Plugins and select "Click to play".

~~~
trezor
Running Chrome 7.0.517.44 here, and all I get is a simple on/off/exceptions
menu.

Your statement might be true for future releases, but unless you are running
nightlies, Chrome does currently not have this as a builtin feature.

