In a move that is likely to appease numerous citizens of the web and ruffle the feathers of at least a few companies, Google has announced that their Chrome browser will now be blocking Flash-based ads by default.
Google has said that the decision to automatically block Flash-based ads was one made with the intent of improving the overall performance of the browser as well as enhancing the surfing experience for users. Google has indicated that Flash-based ads often lead to the performance of the browser suffering due to the ads themselves causing pages to load more slowly than they should.
It is worth noting that Google is not completely killing off Flash-based ads, at least not yet. Instead, what the browser will do is pause the ads on sight and it will be up to the users to click on the ads if they want to learn more about them, according to the Wall Street Journal.
For those hoping or fearing that the move to automatically block Flash-based ads will spell the end for online advertising, that doesn't appear to be the case.
In lieu of using Flash for ads, Google has suggested that online advertisers utilize HTML 5 for constructing new advertisements. HTML 5 has many of the same functions of Flash, with the main difference being that it is capable of more efficient performance.
Google is already working with online advertisers to help facilitate the move to HTML 5, with the company offering tools for the construction of new ads as well as for converting Flash-based ones.
Google's latest move to proactively block Flash-based ads should not come as a surprise to companies, as the search engine giant has been vocal about their plans since the beginning of the year, according to Business Insider.
With the latest change, people will now wait and see how big of a difference blocking Flash-based ads will make when it comes to improving their overall experience online.
