As you may have heard, Google has taken a stand against Flash. Since earlier this year, marketers are no longer able to upload Flash banners to AdWords or DoubleClick. And as of January 2nd, 2017, Flash will no longer run on Google’s ad network at all. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.
On the downside, designers don’t have as much leeway with fonts as they did with Flash. In Flash, custom fonts could be easily embedded into the file, but with HTML5 banners, there is no similar option with the same loading and compression advantages. Instead, Google fonts or fonts that are on all computers are recommended. A workaround for this is to convert the type into images, at the expense of easy editability. Another disadvantage is that HTML5 doesn't offer as much rich functionality as Flash banners, such as motionBlur (allows an object to be blurred while in motion), bevelFilter (which slowly adds a gradient, making it look like the light has moved to one side of the object), and dropShadowFilter (adds drop shadow) to name a few. Fortunately, that won't be the case for much longer. Once marketers and designers realize they only have HTML5 banners to work with, companies will come up with tools to create and move items in HTML5 banners as simply as could be done in Flash.
On the Brightside, we've found that HTML5 banners are easier to work with. Unlike Flash, there are multiple ways to be able to create HTML5 banners. You can develop them in hand-coded HTML or you can use visual programs like Google Web Designer. If you need special animation functionality, you can use GreenSock's super-fast tweening library. This allows the developer to produce banners quickly, effectively, and without much effort.What is Google Web Designer?Google Web Designer is an application to visually help people create HTML5 banners so they don’t need coding experience. The user interface is very simple to use with all the tools you would need right at your fingertips. As Google Web Designer is set up to mimic Flash, anyone with a Flash background would be able to start using the program quickly, understanding what needs to happen to animate their banners. Because the program is fairly straightforward, anyone should be able to understand how to make their banner come to life with a little bit of guidance from the tutorials. Google Web Designer also works with code that companies like GreenSock have developed to allow for more advanced functionality.
What is GSAP?GreenSock is a small development studio that has created an outstanding library called the GreenSock Animation Platform (GSAP). This library gives designers the option to produce more advanced animation techniques and make their banners stand out. Some features include autoAlpha (fades objects or text to be transparent), 2D transform (this includes rotating, scaling, and skewing of objects), textShadow (you can change the color, add a glow, and blur it out), and clip (which allows an object to be clipped). It allows you to pause, resume, reverse, scroll to a certain point in the animation, as well as killing the animation. As the library is easy to set up, you can immediately start moving objects around the banner in an almost unlimited fashion. The animation files are lightweight and fast, which allows for a better experience for consumers, and they work on all devices including Apple products.
As Google continues moving towards HTML5, it's going to force a lot of people to update their browsers to make sure that they see fully-functional websites properly. Most people have already moved away from outdated browsers like IE8 because developers of these browsers no longer support them. Google will show people whose browsers don’t support HTML5 the backup GIFs that marketers should already be adding when they submit their banners to DoubleClick and Adwords.
With only good things to come once everyone moves over to HTML5, we are looking forward to seeing what kinds of new experiences will be imagined.
On the Brightside, we've found that HTML5 banners are easier to work with. Unlike Flash, there are multiple ways to be able to create HTML5 banners. You can develop them in hand-coded HTML or you can use visual programs like Google Web Designer. If you need special animation functionality, you can use GreenSock's super-fast tweening library. This allows the developer to produce banners quickly, effectively, and without much effort.What is Google Web Designer?Google Web Designer is an application to visually help people create HTML5 banners so they don’t need coding experience. The user interface is very simple to use with all the tools you would need right at your fingertips. As Google Web Designer is set up to mimic Flash, anyone with a Flash background would be able to start using the program quickly, understanding what needs to happen to animate their banners. Because the program is fairly straightforward, anyone should be able to understand how to make their banner come to life with a little bit of guidance from the tutorials. Google Web Designer also works with code that companies like GreenSock have developed to allow for more advanced functionality.
What is GSAP?GreenSock is a small development studio that has created an outstanding library called the GreenSock Animation Platform (GSAP). This library gives designers the option to produce more advanced animation techniques and make their banners stand out. Some features include autoAlpha (fades objects or text to be transparent), 2D transform (this includes rotating, scaling, and skewing of objects), textShadow (you can change the color, add a glow, and blur it out), and clip (which allows an object to be clipped). It allows you to pause, resume, reverse, scroll to a certain point in the animation, as well as killing the animation. As the library is easy to set up, you can immediately start moving objects around the banner in an almost unlimited fashion. The animation files are lightweight and fast, which allows for a better experience for consumers, and they work on all devices including Apple products.
As Google continues moving towards HTML5, it's going to force a lot of people to update their browsers to make sure that they see fully-functional websites properly. Most people have already moved away from outdated browsers like IE8 because developers of these browsers no longer support them. Google will show people whose browsers don’t support HTML5 the backup GIFs that marketers should already be adding when they submit their banners to DoubleClick and Adwords.
With only good things to come once everyone moves over to HTML5, we are looking forward to seeing what kinds of new experiences will be imagined.