Flash Hacks

Flash's animation engine isn't the fastest one around because the Flash Player is optimized for a small download size, not for performance. Also, it is designed with web use in mind; therefore, it is optimized for small, low-bandwidth files rather than large, complex animation. In order to maintain its small footprint and ensure maximum compatibility, the Flash Player does not support hardware acceleration. Therefore, performance issues are often paramount for the Flash designer.

Three areas of possible optimization in Flash are as follows:

Each point is considered in greater detail next.

Flash started off as a simple vector-based web animation plugin but is now routinely used for more bandwidth-heavy applications. Take care to ensure that the user is not kept waiting for content to load. The only way to ensure the lowest possible wait times is to test your site often during production.

Prior to the Flash MX 2004 Version 7.0.1 update, the built-in Bandwidth Profiler offered little help in modeling realistic web conditions for sites using multiple SWFs or other external assets. Although the latest version can test multiple SWFs and account for externally loaded assets, it still does not properly handle shared fonts, nor does it allow you to test your site from within a browser.

Third-party tools [Hack #66] help overcome the limitations of the Bandwidth Profiler and enable you to test the whole site (i.e., both Flash and non-Flash assets) under bandwidth-limited conditions using the browser.