Google's Chrome will likely accelerate the demise of Adobe Flash Player by blocking Flash content on most Internet sites.
Chrome has been started to slowly phase out Flash content since September last year, when it started pausing automatically animated Flash ads. The last major stronghold of Flash consists of browser games. For this reason, it is likely that some degree of support for Flash will still last for a while.
Last week, Google's development team of the Chrome Internet browser has revealed a plan to automatically replace Flash content with an HTML5 alternative any time this is possible. In case that a website does not provide an HTML5 version, users will have to approve the content before it is displayed in Chrome.
According to Mashable, Google's plan is still in proposal stage. The Internet search giant is planning to implement this measure in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Computerworld reports that the plan revealed by Google is called "HTML5 by Default." After the plan is implemented, Flash Player's presence in Chrome will not be advertised, but the plug-in would still come bundled with Google's Internet browser.
Users would be prompted to run the application when a web site attempts to start Flash Player. They will have options to run Flash Player for that particular site just once, always or never.
The Chrome team proposes that a whitelist composed of top 10 sites that use Flash to be created in order to ensure the users do not get too many "run Flash" prompts. The whitelist would last for 1 year.
The sites proposed to be included on the whitelist, based on Chrome's internal metrics, include Amazon, Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube, Live.com, VK.com, OK.ru, Yandex.ru, Mail.ru and Twitch.tv. The plan, in case that it will be implemented would likely prompt sites that still have not switched to HTML5 to do so and basically turn Flash into a run-if-you-really-must type of service.
