Blog

Last week, we got the announcement about the new iPad, and the pundits have been working the Hyperbolic Chamber to capacity. So much has been said, written, and parodied about the thing in the last few days, and while most of it is typical ‘net noise, a few good, solid nuggets of info have emerged from the din.

One of the more significant issue surrounding the iPad is the question about support for Flash. Some see a lack of Flash as a huge negative and a deal-breaker for them, but for others (including myself), it doesn’t bother me that much. In fact, after having waded through hundreds of websites full of bad flash, it’ll be nice to take a break from it.

For a while now, I’ve been using a Flash disabler for Safari called “ClickToFlash”. It’s a plug-in that basically turns off Flash content in Safari so that pages load faster, and it usually helps me find what I want to find on the site faster, too. The cool thing about the plug-in is that you can still run the Flash stuff if you want just by clicking on the “Flash” graphic in the browser window.

The plug-in also allows you to “whitelist” certain websites, allowing them to play their Flash content as it normally would. Think of it as a reward for designers that use Good Flash, and a punishment for designers that use Bad Flash.

Where to get it

You can download ClickToFlash for free at: http://rentzsch.github.com/clicktoflash/.

If you like it, you do have the option to donate to the developer on the website. If you find that you don’t want to keep it, ClickToFlash is easy enough to remove.

What it looks like in action

If you’ve followed some of my previous posts, you’ll know that I like YouTube and actually find it to be productive. So naturally, I’ll pick on them for this blog entry. Besides, they’re the 2nd website that comes to mind when thinking about Flash.

With ClickToFlash loaded, here’s what the Safari window looks like when it’s all loaded up:

The Flash content is replaced with a little graphic that says “Flash”. Now, guess how you can view the Flash content….. that’s right. Just click on the Flash graphic. That will load up the Flash content for your viewing pleasure, just like it would normally. But when you click on a YouTube video, this is what you get:

Pretty cool. It’s smart enough to know you’re on YouTube, and you can change the settings in ClickToFlash so that it gives you the option to download the video in H.264. Here’s the settings panel:

Hopefully this will make your world safer from Bad Flash.

—

About Iris Professional Services
Iris Professional Services is a computer consulting company operating offices in both Seattle and Portland. Businesses throughout the Pacific Northwest rely on our expert IT consultants for all their network IT support services.