Python - Web Display Technology

[foxtree at gmail.com]

None of you seem to know what you are talking about.

Flash should be used where one needs to use Flash, and HTML/JS/CSS
(+XML+XSLT) likewise.

Flash can play video. That is not possible w/ HTML/CSS/JS.

Flash also behaves consistently cross-browser, cross/platform -- and
most features cannot be disabled by the user.  (compare that to a user
being able to turn off JS, or Java -- something often mandated in a
corporate environment.)  It's either "all on" or "all off."

Flash has such a large install base, that it could be argued it is the
most widely available platform for delivering media-rich "applications"
over the web.  (And code does not involve anywhere near the same level
of attention to kludges and workarounds that one would have to use to
replicate similar feature -- where possible -- in different browsers
and browser *versions.*)       -- Not to sound like I work for
MM/Adobe, but, here's what the Flash Player can do at *run time*:

Flash can load and play external MP3 audio.

Flash can render text -- w/ custom-defined and packaged fonts.  (not
possible in a browser!)  It can apply a limited set of CSS to the
rendered text, BTW.

Flash can load/parse/serialize/send XML.

Flash can POST and GET a variety of data  (true, it may access browser
controls to manage this.)

Flash can access you webcam, allowing you to create your own video
chat/IM app.

Flash can programatically-build vector shapes, gradients, and fills.

Flash can load and render jpegs, gifs(v8), and pngs(v8) -- and in
version 8, composite all that w/ vector graphics (+video?) -- *and,*
sample the resulting display pixel by pixel.  (passing that data back
to a server would allow dynamic creation of a jpeg or gif.)

Flash 8 has a new "file upload" ability that goes beyond what a browser
is capable of:   You can *multi-select* files, filter files by type or
size, and have programatic access to the state of the upload.  It
accesses an Operating System GUI control to do this -- and  I have
tested that these features work in MSIE, Moz FF, and Safari on OSX. ***

Flash can #animate# stuff!!!

Flash is like a 2 MB download that works in almost *every* browser out
there.  ...it's pretty phenomenal that all those features could have
been crammed into it.    (like: a built-in interpreter for a
late-version-EcmaScript-compliant scripting language -- that, in many
ways, is far more capable than what is available w/ JavaScript in most
browsers!)



*** This feature can be used for a web-based CMS!  It would blow-away
anything (non-Java) now available for managing and uploading assets.
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