WWDC: Flash, older plug-ins to be turned off by default in macOS Sierra, push towards HTML5 continues

In another sign that Flash is pretty much on its way out, Apple engineer Ricky Mondello announced that Safari 10, which will arrive in the upcoming macOS Sierra operating system, will arrive with legacy plug-ins like Flash turned off by default.

The Mac maker is planning similar measures with other plug-ins like Java, Silverlight and QuickTime. This move will force websites with both plug-in and HTML5-based media implementations to use their HTML5.

“On websites that offer both Flash and HTML5 implementations of content, Safari users will now always experience the modern HTML5 implementation, delivering improved performance and battery life,” he added.

For most websites that detect that Flash isn’t available, but don’t have an HTML5 fallback, a message that “Flash isn’t installed” will be displayed with a link to download Flash from Adobe. When a user clicks on one of the links, Safari will advise them that the plug-in is already installed and allow them to activate it just one time or every time the website is visited. The default option will be to activate it only once.

The procedure is the same for other common plug-ins, according to Condello.

Apple is not alone in this move, as Google is adopting a similar strategy in its promotion of HTML in its Chrome web browser, making HTML5 the default experience save for a whitelist of top 10 websites like YouTube and Facebook that use Flash.

Google, Apple, Microsoft and other players are promoting the use of HTML5, which is seen to offer faster load times and lower power consumption. The Flash Player, once critical for rich media on the Web, also has a poor track record for vulnerabilities.

Adobe, in turn, stated in November that it would offer tools to help develop HTML5 content while continuing to support Flash content.

Safari 10 can be tested by installing the beta of the upcoming macOS Sierra operating system, and will also be available as a beta for OS X Yosemite and El Capitan later this summer, Mondello said.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

Via Macworld and Webkit.org