Google will block Flash in Chrome 53

Following the lead of Apple with Safari in macOS Sierra, and Mozilla with Firefox, Google has announced that Chrome will begin to block Flash content. Starting with Chrome 53 in September, Google will "de-emphasize Flash in favor of HTML5".

Google says that the decision has been made to improve security, performance, and battery life, and it builds on an earlier change that made some Flash content click-to-play rather than loading it by default.

Flash is very much a lumbering technology of the past, and Google points out that "more than 90 percent of Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics". But what's happening with version 53 of Chrome is just the start. Towards the end of the year, things will start to get even more serious as the death knell sounds louder than ever for Flash:

In December, Chrome 55 will make HTML5 the default experience, except for sites which only support Flash. For those, you’ll be prompted to enable Flash when you first visit the site. Aside from that, the only change you’ll notice is a safer and more power-efficient browsing experience.

It has been a long, slow journey, but it's starting to feel as those the days of Flash truly are numbered, paving the way for HTML5 to takeover properly.

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