Chrome will start automatically pausing less important Flash content

Starting September 1

[bill]

https://venturebeat.com/2015/08/27/chrome-will-start-automatically-pausing-less-important-flash-content-on-september-1/ [venturebeat.com]

Chrome will start automatically pausing less important Flash content on September 1

Here’s how the feature works. Chrome will automatically pause Flash content that isn’t “central to the webpage” while keeping central content playing without interruption. For example, the video you’re trying to watch will be unaffected while animations on the side will be paused. If Chrome pauses something you’re interested in, you can resume playback by just clicking on it.

This will essentially block Flash ads from running in the periphery, which could signal the beginning of the end of Flash-based ads.

[keyplyr]

The bigger they are, the harder they fall!

[tangor]

Hmmm... what I read in the g announcement is that flash is dead, unless it is served from their properties (as in flash ads from g). I've slept since then and being an old phart with a swiss cheese memory (does swiss cheese have holes anymore?).

[elguiri]

Will this mean I don't have to update that damn Flash plug-in every week? Then good.

[tangor]

FF, for sure, and I think Edge and Chrome, also block outdated flash-plugins, or flash by default. Other browsers seem on the verge of doing the same. The zero day on flash is just too much work to keep up with.

Though the user can override and see the material if they make a conscious decision to do so.

[Robert Charlton]

I"m delighted at every hint that Flash ads are on the way out. Flash was an excellent cheap animation medium, but the plug-in has been so onerous in so many ways that it needs to go.

The recent series of Flash security problems in July [webmasterworld.com...] prompted me to start running Firefox with Flash switched off by default... and the resulting improvement in page load speed has prompted me to keep it off since. I run Chrome when I know I'm going to be encountering a lot of Flash-based content I might want to see, as on Facebook.

In part I do this because FB's compartmentalization into what I call 'privacy blocks' makes it very difficult to switch Flash preferences on and off in Facebook. It will be interesting to see how Chrome's "let me choose" feature will play with Facebook, and whether "detect and run" is better.

Kinda frightening to see how much some sites depend on Flash, even for things like podcasts.

[engine]

It's on the streets now, and there are interesting improvements in V45 [webmasterworld.com...]