In the early days of Siteflex development, a few of our standard components started out as Flash-based extensions to the core Siteflex system. At the time these Flash-based solutions were the best choice for an attractive, cross-browser compatible way of getting the sexy results we wanted for our users and websites. In the subsequent years, however, technology has moved on.
 

Moving on.

Today there are some amazing, standards-based solutions freely* available; solutions able to obtain similar results to those that previously required Flash to achieve. Recently we've put in some time into moving away from our original Flash-based solutions in favour of these newer standards-based solutions.

While it's true that we are (mostly) big fans of the iPhone around the office, what we are really looking forward to is the greater amount of standards-based customisation we'll be able to achieve with the new methods. After all, we're not primarily Flash developers! But more than that, standards-based web development is what the web craves.

We have begun moving towards better custom-font technologies (Cufon, Font-Face CSS3) and have already phased out SWFir Image Replacement technology. In addition to these, two standard components are being phased out in favour of these new Siteflex components. Let's take a look at these updated components below.
 

Galleriffic for Siteflex Photo Galleries  

Replacing our old Flash-based SimpleViewer Photo Galleries, the new jQuery-based Galleriffic Photo Galleries allow a much greater level of customisation in the layout and appearance of Siteflex Photo Galleries. Not to mention they'll look better when embedding into a website's template.

We're also looking into ways of displaying photos (via Galleriffic) better on mobile devices specifically - looking forward to seeing some great results in 2011.
 

Nivo Slider for Siteflex Banner Management

Replacing all old Flash-based Image Sliders, the new jQuery-based Nivo Slider allows Siteflex Banner Management to directly interact with the Image Slider functions for an easier time managing it's display.

The Nivo Slider has already been rolled out to many Siteflex websites, often acting as the primary visual element on the homepage of these sites.
 

Still a place in our heart...

While Flash certainly has it's place in the online space, the Siteflex team is looking forward to moving further away from it with our standard Siteflex components. With HTML5 able to play video content without the aid of Flash (for example), a Flash-free Siteflex website will become more and more commonplace as we move into the next stage of what it means to be online.

* - Some solutions aren't actually free.