Ultimate competition between Flash and Silverlight

Document directory

• Animation Function
• File Size
• Script
• Video and audio
• Sound Processing
• Accessibility
• Platform compatibility
• Text display and SEO
• Supported image formats
• Network Programming
• Camera support
• Deployment
• Windows executable files
• Streaming Media Service
• Conclusion
• Quick comparison

Since the release of Silverlight 1.0, the debate between Web developers and designers on the choice of Flash and Silverlight has started. In the face of mature Flash, Silverlight is faced with the challenge of winning the market. However, Silverlight contains some features that developers have always hoped to possess, such as SEO. This article compares the technical details of Flash and Silverlight in detail.

Animation Function

Flash uses frame-based Animation Mode. In frame-by-frame animation mode, we create an object for each frame and generate an animation sequence. For example, if you want an object to pass through the screen within 3 seconds, calculate the total number of frames in 3 seconds, and then calculate the matrix required for each frame. However, Flash does not actually play at the set frame rate during actual playback, unless you insert a blank track into the animation.

Silverlight is based on the WPF Animation Mode. WPF is based on a timeline, not a frame. You have defined the starting and ending state. WPF helps you calculate how to do this without having to deal with the matrix like Flash, you do not have to calculate the location of the object in Different frames.

File Size

Flash uses the compression format. text and images are embedded in the entire file, so the Flash file size is very small.

Silverlight uses XAML as the description language and is not compressed. Therefore, the file size of Silverlight is usually larger.

Script

Flash uses ActionScript and ActionScript as object-oriented to provide comprehensive control over the user interface design. It can also be integrated with other backend languages, such as PHP, ASP, and Ruby On Rails, has a powerful development library.

Silverlight scripts can be used in multiple development languages,Visual C #. Net and Visual Basic. Net,It also includes the client language JavaScript. C # And VB.net can be used to write managed code and fully use the. net Framework library.

Video and audio

Flash supports multiple audio formats. The quality of the latest audio decoder is very high, and the bandwidth usage is also very good. Its Video Decoder, dedicated H.263 for Sorenson, is a variant of H.263. compression is similar, but some features are removed.

Silverlight uses industry standardsVC-1Video decoding and supports WMV and WMA. Windows Movie Maker can easily generate these two formats. Microsoft also provides free WMV and WMA encoder.

Sound Processing

ActionScript provides a sound class library that can be used to generate or control sound in an animation. You can add sound from the resource library during animation playback, and Flash also provides some methods to control sound throughout the animation.

Silverlight does not have an underlying sound control API or even cannot play a WAV file, because. NET is weak in audio playback.

Accessibility

For those with visual or auditory defects, Flash provides a wide range of accessible features. Video Subtitles can help people with hearing impairment, while those with visual impairment need to control the playing of sound through the keyboard, you can use keyboard shortcuts to control video playback.

For the first time, Silverlight 3 provides color support for all systems, and those with poor eyesight can be adjusted to a high-contrast color scheme, making silverlikes much less accessible than Flash.

Platform compatibility

Flash supports Windows Vista/XP/2000, Windows Server 2003/2008, Mac OS 10.1/10.5 (PowerPC), Mac OS 10.1/10.5 (Intel), Linux 5, openSUSE 11, ubuntu 7.10 or later and Solaris 10.

Silverlight only supports Windows Vista/XP/2000, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows Mobile 6, Mac OS 10.1/10.5 (PowerPC) and Mac OS 10.1/10.5 (Intel ). Because Linux and Solaris are not supported, users on these platforms cannot experience Silverlight. (However, for third-party open-source projects of. NET on the Linux platform, MoonLight in the MONO framework supports Linux)

Text display and SEO

The text in Flash is based on graphics, and the Flash player cannot understand TTF. Therefore, we cannot extract text from Flash animation. Flash is usually unfriendly to SEO, but Adobe has made some efforts to enable text indexing in Flash, and search engines have begun to index Flash. Currently, Google is the only search engine that supports Flash indexing. They work with Adobe to design Google crawlers that can understand Flash content. Yahoo is in progress. Since Microsoft's Silverlight is a competitor of Flash, they are not likely to index Flash in MSN.

Silverlight is based on XAML. The text content in Silverlight is stored independently and can be indexed by any search engine. Therefore, Silverlight is more friendly to search engines.

Supported image formats

Flash supports almost all image formats. Silverlight only supports PNG and JPEG. Other formats provide limited support.

Network Programming

Flash usageXMLSocketCommunicate with the server.

Silverlight provides full support for network programming through the System. Net. Sockets namespace. Silverlight can transmit data asynchronously through ports 4502 to 4534, and supports cross-origin communication.

Camera support

Flash supports network cameras and microphones, and you can easily control the camera or microphone using ActionScript. Silverlight does not support cameras and microphones.

Deployment

Flash deployment only contains an independent SWF file, which already contains all images, texts, and animations. The deployment of Silverlight must be more complex. All independent components must be deployed independently. Typical Silverlight requests generally include the following:

• XML file,
• DLL file (if any ),
• Silverlight. js,
• Other JavaScript files,
• Resource files (images, videos, audios)

Windows executable files

Flash Animation can be compiled into an independent Windows executable program and played on the desktop.

Silverlikes is not supported.

Streaming Media Service

Flash does not support streaming media (although FLV controls almost all video websites, it is another thing-the translator ).

Microsoft's Windows Live-based Silverlight streaming media service allows design and developers to distribute rich media. Combined with Microsoft's Expression Studio, developers and designers can create interactive Web programs.

Conclusion

The selection of rich Internet applications has always been controversial. The selection of Silverlight and Flash depends entirely on your needs. If your users include Linux and Solaris platforms, flash is the best choice. If you want your website to be indexed, Silverlight is better.

In addition, it should be noted that there are still a few users who have installed the silverlisilverplug-in, while Flash plug-ins are installed in most users' browsers. In addition, SWF, FLA, and FLV are almost developed in standard formats, silverligth is still in the 100% private format (however, Silverlight is already in plain text, but it also talks about what is open-the translator ).

Quick comparison

Features	Flash	Silverlight
Animation	.	Better
File size	Better	.
Scripting	.	Better
Video/Audio	.	Better
Sound processing	Better	.
Accessibility	Better	.
Platform compatibility	Better	.
Text representation/SEO	.	Better
Supported image formats	Better	.
Socket programming	Better	.
Webcam support	Better	.
Deployment	Better	.
Windows application	Better	.
Media streaming	.	Better