Farewell to Adobe Flash

Posted on May 21 2020 by Jacqui
flash

Written by Aaron Shannon-Honson

Adobe Flash, the popular animation and interactive creation tool, is ending its long-running support as of the end of December 2020. This includes any ongoing security updates for the tool and the desktop Flash Player.

Web browsers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Microsoft Edge have already stopped actively supporting Flash but from the end of this year Flash will be outright blocked from running if it is present in page content. On Windows, this will also be done at a system update level to remove Flash support.

 

Who does this affect?

If you’re linking to animations or activity files that end with .swf, you have a Flash file that will soon be unsupported by tools available to staff and students.

A .swf file in MyUni Files

 

If you’ve created something in Storyline, it may be Flash content. To find out what technology has been used to create it, you can right-click in the activity. If an ‘Adobe Flash’ menu pops up, then Flash has been used to build the activity and should be converted to HTML using an alternative.

Example Adobe Flash menu

What are the alternatives to using Flash?

Depending on how the content is being used, there are a few options:

  • If your content is non-essential or no longer used, we recommend removing or hiding the file so students aren’t able to see blocked content.
  • If it’s purely an animation and you have the source files, the Media Production team can help recreate or re-imagine it into a video you can use in MyUni.

For interactive content, HTML5 is the de-facto replacement for interactive Flash activities:

  • If your content is built in Storyline and you still have the Storyline files, you can re-publish them to include HTML5.
  • H5P is a tool the Learning Enhancement and Innovation team has acquired licenses for and can be used to create web-ready interactive content for your courses. The MyUni Learning Centre has information about getting set up with H5P and making your first activity.

Need help converting your Flash content?

The Learning Enhancement & Innovation Media Production team can help with conversions which cannot be achieved through any of the above or for anything that requires an entirely new creation. Get in touch using the Media Production web form.

Tagged in Learning Enhancement & Innovation, Media Production, Learning Systems & Innovation, Educational Technology