Alternatives to Flash

[<-JY->]

I've been looking to develop more interactive sites like with Flash, but it's just too expensive for me to buy as an independent web developer. Can anybody recommend any alternatives to Flash that will give me basic animation etc. for web sites?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance.

[JPnyc]

What's known as DHTML (javascript + html/css) can do a fair amount of what flash does and all you need is notepad, and of course the knowledge of the languages.

[<-JY->]

I know DHTML pretty well andit won't let me do things like drawing shapes and (most importantly) translucent layers - not in current versions of IE at least I don't really want to have to create lots of graphics for primitive shapes.

I'm also looking for the ability to package graphics and other files together to create 'packages' that can be downloaded.

[JPnyc]

Then you're stuck with flash. There's no other alternative.

[kelly23]

Swishmax! Just $99.95 Excellent program!

http://www.swishzone.com/

[schizo]

Just buy flash and use it as a tax write-off.

[<-JY->]

That looks like just the ticket!

If anybody in the uk knows of a way of saving money by "using it as a tax write-off" i'd be interested to hear.... apart from the obvious of not paying VAT which i wouldn't pay if i didn't buy it :S

[schizo]

Sorry I didn't know you were from the UK

[<-JY->]

What's the deal where you are then schizo? Do you get tax relief on purchases or something?

[iJump]

In u.s., you can write it off as a bizness expense. it'll save you twenty to forty % of the purchase (in the long run).

I came to this forum because it announced somewhere that it was a primary resource and forum for SMIL I guess that attests to the fact that SMIL has yet to take off as a flash alternative because their is not that much discussion about it.

I've been having trouble finding a SMIL authoring package. Some seem obsolete and to have disappeared. Others are requiring me to compile and build them on unix. I still haven't tried any Windows options.

But if you don't mind doing code, SMIL is a free option. Browsers are getting better at supporting it (?maybe).

[mtgentry]

You can try using SVG images instead, although I think you still need a plugin to view them.