[Flashblock] Critics of FlashBlock

[Philip Chee]

On 23/02/07, Lorenzo Colitti <lorenzo at colitti.com> wrote:

> I don't know if this is possible. Once Flash starts, is there a way to
> stop it? More to the point, is there a way to stop it that can't be
> disabled by the web designer?

There is a complicated and not very dependable way of
stopping a flash movie depending on what parameters
are set on the object. The more important question is
when to stop it. Juro says to let it play once. But
what if it is a very loud streaming 45 minute flash
movie? "Once" means 45 minutes of annoyance.

Showing just the first frame is technically very
difficult if not impossible using the current
architecture of Flashblock. You might have better
luck using a greasemonkey script to interrogate
a flash movie and issue fscommands to it. But I
wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

In either case I believe that Flashblock should remain
a small lightweight extension that does only one thing
and does it well. Trying to bloat it with creeping
featuritist isn't the way to go. If that is the direction
then writing an elaborate Greasemonkey script might be
better. And lastly Flashblock is open source. If anyone
disagrees with our direction, he or she is free to fork
it and add whatever features they want.

Just my 0.02 draskoobleniks.

Phil