The company has previously blocked Flash, Java, and a range of other plugins and software when they were found to have security holes. Firefox users can still choose to enable Flash in the settings menu if they wish.
I'm waiting for an announcement from Microsoft saying they are going to follow Firefox and Chrome and start blocking Flash. Owen, you are right, many authoring tools rely on Flash as a player mechanism. I have a feeling this is going to speed and strengthen the adoption of HTML 5 published courses.
Thanks for reaching out here and sharing your thoughts and concerns. We are aware of the Firefox change, although I don't have an official update from our team yet. Perusing the Firefox info, it does seem that there is a way to allow the Flash plug in to work as detailed here although it'll now be disabled by default. Also, here is another good article on the "why" behind it from Firefox.
With all of the flash issues going on, my company has actually removed flash from our systems, rendering me dead in the water to author courses on Studio '13. An update for what Articulate plans to do is much appreciated!
In regards to the issue with Flash and Firefox, our team has done some testing and updated our documentation here in regards to how they'll behave and set it to allow content. As for Flash and working in Studio '13, you'll still need Flash to be installed on the system to run Articulate software.
My company will soon be taking a similar stance to Kathryn's. In the near future, many of the security and compliance organizations will recommending blocking or eliminating flash. I am a Storyline user and desperately need to know if a new approach or workaround is in the works.
I don't have additional information in regards to that - but you're welcome to share your thoughts on this directly with our team here in the form of a feature request.
I agree with everyone's thoughts above (especially Chris and Kathryn). One can only assume that Articulate is working on some work-arounds or more extensive rewrites to address this, right? Otherwise, the Storyline and Studio products which I use exclusively and have invested in over the last six years will be, for the most part, obsolete and nearly unusable, and possibly in the near future. Flash has been dying a slow death for a few years now, and this could be the final death knell.
We have a dedicated team focused on HTML5 as well as dedicated teams focused on playback via the Articulate Mobile Player. While we can't speak to future releases, we are aware of the decisions being made that impact the ability of web browsers to display Flash content and are actively working to make sure that our content will work on all major web browsers.
Last year our company invested around $16K into this software and now our IT wants to remove Flash from our systems. Plus Firefox has disabled Flash. Not WINNING! It’s been 6 months, any update on this issue?
For others looking for a work around, my team and I did a round table to find a solution. The key feature for us was keeping the interactivity for each slide. HTML5 animation solves this problem. However, there isn’t an intuitive tool/software used for Macs and Windows— well none that I’ve found thus far, that gave you this feature. We've been toying around re-building our eLearning courses using Adobe Edge, but we’re learning that will be a bigger investment. It’s doable, but more man/woman time—time we don’t have. If you can keep your slides simple, then it’s actually doable, but the dilemma for us—taking what’s already been designed and develop and converting it over.
I should note: Adobe Edge isn’t intuitive as Articulate Storyline. It has a steep learning curve. And there is Hype (http://tumult.com/hype/), which is really cool; however, it’s only built for Mac’s. Windows isn’t supported. Here is what you can do with Hype (http://tumult.com/hype/tutorials/).
Since we’re already invested into Articulate Storyline, I would love if there was an official plan to convert existing customer projects over and view a road map to feature releases. I don’t think it’s fair that you guys are selling software that uses a technology you know will be obsolete soon, but don’t have any viable answer. My team is in limbo–hoping you guys come up with something. Getting a straight answer would be nice. Either you have something in the pipeline or you don’t. That way we can cut our losses and move on.
I'm a little uncertain if the problem is with Flash being removed from the authoring machines, the learner machines, or both.
If the problem is due to no Flash on the learner machines, I assume you are aware that Storyline 2 is capable of publishing your content for HTML5, including all interactivity (with a few exceptions). There are also some limitations on which browsers can be used to view HTML5 output, so perhaps this is where you're running into issues (Firefox, for example, cannot be used to view HTML5 output). This article explains how Storyline determines which version of your content to display when learners view it, but if you're looking for the ability to publish HTML5-only output (no Flash at all), that's not something we have for you right now. We don't forecast features or share our product roadmap, but you can be certain that it's something we're thinking about.
If the problem is due to no Flash on the authoring machine, there is little to no workaround for that problem right now. Flash is indeed a prerequisite on the author's machine, and you won't be able to author Storyline courses without it. Again, we can't promise if or when we'll have a version of Storyline that does not require Flash, but it's something we're considering.
I'm sorry I don't have more explicit information to share, but if and when we have a solution to this problem, we won't hesitate to share it. Thanks for understanding.
As Justin shared above we continue to look at the options and we haven't changed our current set up in terms of requiring Flash installed on your system to build content or remove Flash output in the published files.
Since Chrome is one of the supported browsers for HTML5 content, if you have included that as a publish option, I'd expect that you'd be presented with the HTML5 content instead of Flash.
17 Replies
I'm more curious that if browsers all STOP supporting flash, how does that start impacting the way we publish Articulate courses!
The company has previously blocked Flash, Java, and a range of other plugins and software when they were found to have security holes. Firefox users can still choose to enable Flash in the settings menu if they wish.
However, there is a big movement pushing for "the death of Flash" which would have a big impact on many authoring tools.
I'm waiting for an announcement from Microsoft saying they are going to follow Firefox and Chrome and start blocking Flash. Owen, you are right, many authoring tools rely on Flash as a player mechanism. I have a feeling this is going to speed and strengthen the adoption of HTML 5 published courses.
Hi all,
Thanks for reaching out here and sharing your thoughts and concerns. We are aware of the Firefox change, although I don't have an official update from our team yet. Perusing the Firefox info, it does seem that there is a way to allow the Flash plug in to work as detailed here although it'll now be disabled by default. Also, here is another good article on the "why" behind it from Firefox.
With all of the flash issues going on, my company has actually removed flash from our systems, rendering me dead in the water to author courses on Studio '13. An update for what Articulate plans to do is much appreciated!
Hi Kathryn and all,
In regards to the issue with Flash and Firefox, our team has done some testing and updated our documentation here in regards to how they'll behave and set it to allow content. As for Flash and working in Studio '13, you'll still need Flash to be installed on the system to run Articulate software.
My company will soon be taking a similar stance to Kathryn's. In the near future, many of the security and compliance organizations will recommending blocking or eliminating flash. I am a Storyline user and desperately need to know if a new approach or workaround is in the works.
Hi Chris,
I don't have additional information in regards to that - but you're welcome to share your thoughts on this directly with our team here in the form of a feature request.
I agree with everyone's thoughts above (especially Chris and Kathryn). One can only assume that Articulate is working on some work-arounds or more extensive rewrites to address this, right? Otherwise, the Storyline and Studio products which I use exclusively and have invested in over the last six years will be, for the most part, obsolete and nearly unusable, and possibly in the near future. Flash has been dying a slow death for a few years now, and this could be the final death knell.
Any updates would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Jeffrey,
We have a dedicated team focused on HTML5 as well as dedicated teams focused on playback via the Articulate Mobile Player. While we can't speak to future releases, we are aware of the decisions being made that impact the ability of web browsers to display Flash content and are actively working to make sure that our content will work on all major web browsers.
Will Flash Player be required on the authoring system? In other words, the system I use to author courseware with Presenter and Storyline?
Hi Bob! I do not have the answer to that either. At this time, Flash is required both for authoring and viewing as shown here.
Last year our company invested around $16K into this software and now our IT wants to remove Flash from our systems. Plus Firefox has disabled Flash. Not WINNING! It’s been 6 months, any update on this issue?
For others looking for a work around, my team and I did a round table to find a solution. The key feature for us was keeping the interactivity for each slide. HTML5 animation solves this problem. However, there isn’t an intuitive tool/software used for Macs and Windows— well none that I’ve found thus far, that gave you this feature. We've been toying around re-building our eLearning courses using Adobe Edge, but we’re learning that will be a bigger investment. It’s doable, but more man/woman time—time we don’t have. If you can keep your slides simple, then it’s actually doable, but the dilemma for us—taking what’s already been designed and develop and converting it over.
I should note: Adobe Edge isn’t intuitive as Articulate Storyline. It has a steep learning curve. And there is Hype (http://tumult.com/hype/), which is really cool; however, it’s only built for Mac’s. Windows isn’t supported. Here is what you can do with Hype (http://tumult.com/hype/tutorials/).
Since we’re already invested into Articulate Storyline, I would love if there was an official plan to convert existing customer projects over and view a road map to feature releases. I don’t think it’s fair that you guys are selling software that uses a technology you know will be obsolete soon, but don’t have any viable answer. My team is in limbo–hoping you guys come up with something. Getting a straight answer would be nice. Either you have something in the pipeline or you don’t. That way we can cut our losses and move on.
Appreciate any feedback, Thanks!
Hey, Tim.
I'm a little uncertain if the problem is with Flash being removed from the authoring machines, the learner machines, or both.
I'm sorry I don't have more explicit information to share, but if and when we have a solution to this problem, we won't hesitate to share it. Thanks for understanding.
Chrome is now not "automatically" running flash.
http://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/google-ending-automatic-chrome-support-for-flash/d/d-id/1325533
Will Storyline / Articulate come up with a solution since most companies are not HTML5 compatible yet?
Hi Paul,
As Justin shared above we continue to look at the options and we haven't changed our current set up in terms of requiring Flash installed on your system to build content or remove Flash output in the published files.
Since Chrome is one of the supported browsers for HTML5 content, if you have included that as a publish option, I'd expect that you'd be presented with the HTML5 content instead of Flash.
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.