2020 was a year of change, and another move set to shake up the online learning industry was the retirement of Adobe Flash.
Support for Adobe Flash Player, which has been an integral aspect of online learning for more almost 20 years, ended on 31 December 2020, making way for its successor – HTML5.
A three-year decision reached its end
Adobe announced in July 2017 it would stop distributing and updating Flash Player, an announcement made in collaboration with several technology partners including Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla. By announcing the decision with three years’ advance notice, developers, designers, businesses and other users have been given a long lead time to migrate existing Flash content to alternative open standards.
The decision was driven by an increasingly competitive and mature open standards (OS) market. Courses that are Flash-based are not supported by Apple devices, for example, already wiping out a significant market share comparative to HTML5 which is supported across all devices.
While Adobe prompted users to uninstall Flash Player, it officially stopped issuing updates or security patches on 31 December, this also prompted security concerns if the switchover was not complete.
A partner to manage the transition
For many companies using Flash for their suite of online training courses, the end-of-life announcement means their training programs will no longer be supported.
The transition to HTML5 is unfortunately not a simple republish. In most instances, entire courses will have to be redesigned to meet the needs of a modern browser – a costly and time intensive exercise.
With the end of Flash, many companies may be considering the benefits of building online training programs in-house compared to partnering with a compliance training provider.
At Safetrac, our team have the capability to take existing Flash training programs and convert courses into modern training formats. It also provides an opportunity to think broadly about compliance, and ensure training content complies with current legal requirements and legislation.
Learning provider partnerships provide unparalleled flexibility, the ability to choose off the shelf, customised or bespoke courses, and the certainty that courses remain up to date with the technology and legislative requirements of a modern compliance training program.
Contact us today to learn what the end of Flash means for your business or to preview any of our courses – available as SCORM or through our online compliance platform.
Want to view any of our courses?
We can set you up with online access to view the content and test assessment questions.
Get started by completing the below form.