[java] java applets vs flash

Flash

Flash, or better yet, ask yourself why you need any of these technologies, as I really dislike fancy animations on websites anyway.

Flash by far. I don''t have the stats off hand but flash outnumbers Java in Web browsers by a significant margin. Also consider that Flash can install itself automatically via activex in Internet Explorer.


And I too hate whiz-bang sites. Text and non-animated images please. But that''s just my opinion.

dont worry, i dont plan on doing any wizbang sites. i believe both technologies will work, however need the more accessible technology. im a person who will click no to all plugin/component/whatever you want to call em questions that a browser may popup.

so flash it seems.

I''d say refrain from what isn''t in the core of a browser, if you need some whizz bang thing, write it in &#106avascript, you''d be surprised of what you can do with it.

roger the avoid anything not in the browser. however, i dont want to use a request/response/refresh model. in simplest form, i want to create a chat program, that polls a http request and then inserts new comments into the list without a refresh.

This might be a little off topic since your main interest is web-site development, but this is a gaming site. But, I just read recently that 60%+ of the web market is Internet Explorer and IE comes with a 1.1 Java machine (not sure for how long though as they obviously don''t like java). If you can get away with 1.1 that''s a huge market right there. And, I''m guessing that a large portion of that other 40% has a JVM from sun. I also believe that the latest Java plug-ins will install automatically in most browsers. The nice thing about 1.1 is it will run on all java enabled browsers no matter what version they have and it seems that the majority of users will already have the basic Microsoft VM with JIT installed with IE. That means no downloading at all for them. I believe that asking people to download seperate plug-ins can lead to problems. Some people will just say no because they either have a slow connection, don''t trust it, or just don''t think it is worth it just to check out some mini-game or bloated web-page. Others might have problems getting the patch to install properly for one reason or another. Even though flash and java plug-in installations are generally user-friendly, you can''t account for everybody''s "tech-saviness" and machine configuration.

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Original post by Absolution
I believe that asking people to download seperate plug-ins can lead to problems. Some people will just say no because they either have a slow connection, don''t trust it, or just don''t think it is worth it just to check out some mini-game or bloated web-page. Others might have problems getting the patch to install properly for one reason or another. Even though flash and java plug-in installations are generally user-friendly, you can''t account for everybody''s "tech-saviness" and machine configuration.

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Ah, but if all Java developers stopped supporting 1.1 applets then eventually most users would have the latest JRE installed. That sort of tactic usually works for Microsoft (no more new updates for Win95/98, DX9 won''t install on Win95, etc...). All we need to do is pull together!

I''d rather stay away from Java 1.1 as it is 6 years old. Lots of things have changed since then, and its been a real pain just trying to get people to move over to the latest JVMs. But if you''re making websites with interactive content, you definitely can''t go wrong with Flash.

I hate flash passionately. I refuse to install it on my computer.

[edited by - nonnus29 on November 26, 2003 7:22:20 PM]

I personally like Flash for relatively simple interactive web elements (limited to more or less animation only). However, for more complex programs that you want to be available over the web, I think Java is the better choice.

The Artist Formerly Known as CmndrM

http://chaos.webhop.org

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Original post by kneeride
i''m planning on designing a site using java applets or flash. i''ve been told that MS do not ship the java runtime anymore. i guess the real question is: which technology (java applets/flash 6) is currently stored on more peoples machines?

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Browser.

But people have to download both anyway so it would depend on how interesting would be your site. And Java is more powerfull than Flash.
Flash is also used from ActiveX controls that some users have disabled for security reasons.