Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

JavaScript library lets iPad read Flash advertisements

Flash advertisements are converted in a web browser to JavaScript and HTML5

A mobile advertising company has written a JavaScript library that makes Flash advertisements viewable on devices such as the iPad, working around Apple's opposition to Adobe Systems' multimedia platform.

The library, called Smokescreen, renders Flash advertisements into JavaScript and HTML5 within the browser if a device can't read Flash. Smokescreen, which was primarily developed by Chris Smoak of RevShockAds, means that companies that create Flash advertisements don't have to build a different version of an ad in order to reach millions of iPhone and iPad users.

"Many people still want to use their existing Adobe tools for developing ads, and retooling to support a single platform seems silly," according to Smokescreen's blog.

Smokescreen does need up-to-date browsers, and the demo advertisements works on Firefox 3.6, Chrome 5, Safari 4 and the mobile version of Safari. It won't run yet on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 although it "looks promising," according to developers. There are "known, fixable" issues with Opera 10.5.

Smokescreen's code will soon be released under an open-source license. Its developers have posted a preview along with demos. Low-cost support and service options will eventually be made available, according to Smokescreen's blog.

Developers appear to be excited by Smokescreen. "Chris Smoak’s Smokescreen, 'a Flash player written in JavaScript,' is an incredible piece of work," wrote Simon Willison, co-creator of Django, a framework for building Web applications in the Python language, on his blog.

However, Willison wrote that "my one concern is performance — the library is 175 KB and over 8,000 lines of JavaScript which might cause problems on low-powered mobile devices."

Smokescreen's JavaScript library must be downloaded and executed on a Web browser. Since mobile devices have much less processing power than desktop computers, the time it takes to render the advertisement may vary by device. The developers warn that Smokescreen is not as fast as a Flash plugin, but that performance could be improved.

A test of Smokescreen's demos on an iPhone showed that the more complex the animation, the slower the advertisement rendered. On a desktop computer, the performance was faster.

"Since Smokescreen is written in JavaScript, it is slower than the Flash plugin and is limited in speed by the performance of the browser," according to Smokescreen's blog. "Until we pull more tricks out of our sleeves to boost the speed, realize that some demos will not run at acceptable speeds on iPad/iPhone/iPod devices and are categorized appropriately."

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Adobe, Adobe Systems, Apple, Microsoft
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: adobe flash, apple ipad, html 5, iPad, javascript, online advertising, Smokescreen, Flash
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Teleworking made simple—and secure—with desktop virtualisation technology
    Businesses of all sizes are increasingly focused on creating flexible work environments and offering telework options for employees. By administering policies and providing the technical capability for employees to work remotely, these companies can improve job satisfaction and worker attraction and retention. This paper explores the implementation of teleworking based on a foundation of desktop and server virtualisation.
    Learn more »
  • Oracle Exadata: Extreme Performance Lowest Cost
    As organisations contend with escalating demands for greater quantities of information, more sophisticated data analysis, and a burgeoning user population, Oracle Exadata makes database workloads faster, easier to manage, and less expensive. Oracle Exadata is the world’s first database machine to provide extreme performance for both data warehousing and online transaction processing (OLTP) applications.
    Learn more »
  • Best Practices for Oracle License Management: Optimise Usage and Minimise Audit Liability
    With Oracle audits on the rise, organisations that can best align license agreements with actual database and option usage can reduce their financial risk and maximise the value of their Oracle investments. The goal is to “right-size” Oracle across the enterprise and gain control over the entire license management process – from accurate needs projections and licensing negotiations, to deployments and audit preparation. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments