When it comes to animation on the Website not many options come close to Flash. Flash was thus being used for animation for a long time. This was true till even 5 years ago, but the factors like compatibility and acceptance slowly began to work against flash till it was finally almost non-existent. The websites designed today with animation techniques will rarely make use of flash.

There are several other alternatives like CSS, SMIL, and even JavaScript. Thus here is a brief comparison of them.

Choosing CSS Animation:

CSS is a very good option for animation and is also very efficient and delivers exactly what you require or design. CSS is especially great for animations that include transformations.

However, CSS-based animation does have its limitations since not all SVG properties can be animated using CSS. This can be done via SMIL or JavaScript.

Opting for SMIL for animation:

SMIL is very useful to fill the gap when it comes to the limitations of CSS since it is capable of animating properties that CSS property cannot. Additionally, the SMIL animations are preserved when SVG is embedded as an image or as a background image. This is something that JavaScript is not capable of doing.

At the same time, SMIL is not the safest bet for the future and neither is suitable for multiple animations on the same element. CSS fulfills the role here.

JavaScript Based Animation:

With JavaScript there is better control over the animations, thus making animations easier. There are several SVG animation library available that offer even better control over the timing and easing functions.

However with JavaScript if the SVG is embedded as an image the animation will not be preserved.

Benefits of using CSS animation:

CSS is an extremely useful tool when it comes to transition animations. The following facts will help understand its true potential:

• Simple animations can be created using CSS transitions that start as a result of triggering a CSS property change.
• The Transitions animate between the start and end state.
• Each state of the transition is controlled by an existing CSS property value.
• CSS Transition is a very simple method of creating animations though it provides little or no control over it.
• The change in the transition is implicit. Thus the browser often determines the intermediate states when only the start and end states are defined.

On the other hand, CSS animations are a little more controllable and provide an interactive experience:

• CSS animations allow to the creation of multiple CSS keyframe animations.
• The CSS animation does not need a trigger and can run on its own. However, if the need is they can be triggered as well.As soon as the animation property is applied, the animation will occur.
• Unlike transitions, the CSS animations are capable of changing the property value inside each keyframe.
• CSS animations change explicitly; hence all states are usually well defined.
• There functions to delay the animations if required as well as a timing function to dictate how long the animation should last.
• When it comes to browser support for CSS animations; it is extremely good with almost all browsers supporting it.

Conclusion:

The current trends are quite conclusive in stating that Flash is out and CSS is in. It is even supported by factual and statistical data as mentioned here:

Flash is used by about 11.6 percent of the websites

[Image Courtesy : http://w3techs.com/]

CSS animations is used by about 90.4 per cent of the websites 

[Image Courtesy : http://w3techs.com/]

Alakmalak is a web designing company and has witnessed several trends changes in website design over the years. Hence the designers quite experienced and also well aware of current trends and requirements. This makes them more than prepared to deliver new, creative and innovative designs to our clients.

Thus it is not surprising that they crossed the magical figure of having developed 2000 websites a long time ago. Besides which those clients which happen to be from all across the globe really appreciate the design and development work and continue to remain our clients.

 

• How to Animate your Website
• Is there any advantage to using CSS animations
• The Benefits of Using CSS Animations