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TED launches Flash-free site for iPad, iPhone

by Michael Grothaus Mar 31st 2010 at 5:30PM

I'm happy to report that TED, following in the footsteps of so many others, has now created a Flash-free version of its website for the iPad and iPhone. The new site automatically detects your browser and OS and shows the video in either Flash or HTML5. TED curator Chris Anderson first announced a Flash-free version of TED on his Twitter account on March 28: "Excited about this. Non-flash version of http://ted.com is now live for iPhone. Videos, comments, ratings. Hurrah!"

No Flash? That is an idea worth spreading.

[via Obama Pacman]

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I'm happy to report that TED, following in the footsteps of so many others, has now created a Flash-free version of its website for the...
 

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jason

Sweet. Ted got his site up, let me know when Bob gets his going will ya?

;-)

oh come on. I'm surprised no one else did it...

March 31 2010 at 11:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wosuh

HTML5 is NOT a magic bullet for all troubles, and is not as fantastically good as many might be thinking - both Flash and HTML5 use pretty much the same technologies, one cannot be much faster than the other. read this:

http://www.nytimes.com/external/readwriteweb/2010/03/10/10readwriteweb-does-html5-really-beat-flash-the-surprising-81090.html

in other words, when you visit an HTML5 site that does what Flash does, it will still drain out the battery and your computer/iPad/iPhone will still become sluggish.

March 31 2010 at 7:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to wosuh's comment
Andrew

If you are going to quote an article why don't you read it?

On the Mac platform:
With Safari, HTML5 was the most efficient and consumed less CPU than Flash using only 12.39% CPU...

With Google Chrome, Flash and HTML5 were both equally inefficient (both are around 50%)

With Firefox, Flash was only slightly less efficient than in Safari, but better than in Chrome

---
Granted, there are a number of reasons, but the REALITY is that Flash in Safari on a Mac is NOT good.

March 31 2010 at 8:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wosuh

@Andrew, keep reading the article - there is a clear reason why Flash doesn't perform as well in Safari - Apple's refusal to cooperate. That's right, Flash could have been much faster on your Mac only if Apple worked with Adobe.

So before blaming Flash and trying to get rid of a mature technology, why not ask Apple to come around and let us, the end users, enjoy both?

March 31 2010 at 9:53 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Justin

IT NEEDS TO BE SUPPORTED ON THE DESKTOP! This is maddening when I know the Flash-free capability is there, but they intentionally choose NOT to use it! This is a revolutionary new system that's compatible with all modern browsers, but they choose to only deploy it to portable devices. I sent them an email, and I encourage everyone else to do the same. The sooner Flash dies completely, the better it is for everyone.

March 31 2010 at 7:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jakethepianist

I love TED. My science teacher showed it to me.

March 31 2010 at 6:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mark

Now if only they'd expand this for all platforms. I despise flash why do they insist on serving it to me on my desktop and laptop. Errrg.

March 31 2010 at 6:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Mark's comment
Robert

Use Safari and turn on the developer menu. (Preferences -> Advanced -> Show Develop Menu)

I use this regularly for work. You can set the user agent to many different browsers. Just set this to Safari Mobile and you will get the HTML5 versions of flash sites. I actually use this often and it is nice. It is easier than it sounds once you turn it on.

March 31 2010 at 6:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andre

Wow another story that TUAW is days behind on.

March 31 2010 at 6:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mlahero

I imagine Flash is being kept to support the fancy homepage flash navigation and not just for the video player itself.

March 31 2010 at 5:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
heathsnow

I assume the only reason to continue supporting Flash is for older browsers that aren't compatible with HTML5?

If I have Flash installed but my browser also supports HTML5, which one will TED.com use? I'd check myself buy I'm at work atm.

March 31 2010 at 5:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to heathsnow's comment
Brandscill

Flash :(

March 31 2010 at 5:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
tdowling

Even when ignoring the old browsers, I don't know if html5 is the best thing to default to yet for a major site...from my experience with YouTube's implementation at least, it was so quirky that I had to reluctantly go back to using the standard Flash site.

March 31 2010 at 6:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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