How important would you say it is to know how to develop Flash applications (not games) if you're looking for a job as a web developer today?
The essentials are of course HTML, CSS and JavaScript. A few years ago virtually everyone (as in every non-programmer) wanted Flash on their home page, possibly even with intros with broken "skip intro" buttons.
How important is that today?
I'm a web developer, and I think the more you have been exposed to, the better. Even if you aren't using those things currently. Actionscript development isn't as common as many other languages used in web development, so you're likely to find a job in web development without experience in it, however, it's not going to make you look bad for knowing a bit about it either.
Bottom line is it's not essential, and it probably won't narrow your choices too much much for not knowing it.
This is a bit of a strange question. There are many technologies in web development, and no-one can hope to know them all. I personally have never needed to know Flash particularly - if I needed some Flash, I would just ask someone who did know it.
I believe that today you are more likely to be requested to do a standard web page with clean html+css+javascript than you would have been a few years ago.
But flash is (and will be) important in places where javascript+css+html is not enough.
Why say no to flash? It can be a tool like any other, and you don't need to master it to say that you are familiar with it.
I would say it kinda depends on what you call "web development" and being "web developper". Do you mean "front end development" ?
If yes, I believe you should at least know some basics about Flash, as clients most likely will ask you (or the company you're working for) to develop some... I don't remember seeing much people searching for a front-end developper who doesn't know anything about Flash -- even if it's not often the most important point.
Still (disclaimer : as a user, I don't really like flash, so I'm maybe a bit biased), being able to explain why one should not use Flash for this or that on his site is a nice point, in some case -- but I think it requires you to have at least so knowledge of Flash to argue effectively ;-)
Even if you don't "master" Flash, knowing some basics is a nice thing ; actually, the more you know about many technologies, the better you'll become -- and the wiser you become too : one is more able to do wise choices for a website if he knows many technologies (he won't say "do that" because he knows nothing else -- and that is quite important to me)
As a sidenote : I prefer someone who knows HTML/CSS well (and who knows what standards are, why they are useful, and respects them) than someone who knows Flash ;-)
But if he is open-minded, it is even way better !
In the end, if necessary, an open-minded guy will be able to learn anything, anywayy ;-)
If by "web developper" you don't "only" mean "front end developper"... Well... I consider myself as a web-developper, and I don't know anything about Flash ;-)
I have some basics about HTML/CSS, but it's not my main ability either : I am a PHP developper ; a "back-end" developper, some would say.
In this case, knowing Flash is not a all required ;-)
Hello,
In my opinion developing a flash intro does not only require actionscript knowlegde but it also requires design and animation techniques in order to make that intro appealing and nice. There are intros and intros, professional ones and ones that shout "i am created by a programmer with no graphic or animation skills".
I think you should forget about people that want intros and silly animations on their page because they believe it's going to make them look better. Focus on actionScript as a programming language and learn for example how objects and movieClips work in the flash environment.
Leave the flashy intros to designers and people who have a good understanding of animation techniques, focus on the 'programming' part of the flash presentation application and not on the visual/animating part.
As for the employers who are looking for a programmer that knows FLASH in general i would tell you to 'look the other way'. Nobody can expect from you to have extented experience in a programming language and at the same time have the skills to create appealing animations and interfaces in flash.
Don't forget that adobe separates between flash designer and flash programmer/developer (at least they did). So the next time someone asks you if you know flash, "ask them: are you looking for a flash designer or a developer?"
It depends on what your focus is. If you are a "Web Applications" developer, that is different from being someone who primarily designs marketing pages. There are several categories of web pages. In fact we could probably have an entire thread just debating what those categories are. But I break them down this way.
Pages that provide a service - ex: Quicken.com, online banking, various internal apps (hr, timekeeping, etc) (Web Application)
Pages that provide information - ex: CNN.com (Web Information)
Pages that sell something - ex: Amazon.com, bn.com (Web Store)
Pages that are of a purely marketing focus - ex: gijoemovie.com (Web Marketing) *Note I'm not talking about interactive or not, just the purpose. Yes there will be some bleed over, and some sites that do more than one.
I find that Flash is generally good for 2 and 4, moreso than 1 and 3. Yes there are exceptions, I'm sure there are flash developers out there who can point to a good app page built in flash, just as I'm sure there are good MVC or Ruby developers who can point out very "flashy" information page built with nothing but some JQuery. I've personally done some of both.
What languages you know is a function of what you want to build, and who you want to work with. While I advocate knowing many languages, there is something of an artists touch to any flash application. In my experience, you are better paying an artist for that, just as (in my experience) you are better paying a developer for the technical details of your major web application.
As a developer, I would treat flash as I treat Photoshop. I can open up photoshop and make minor changes. I can change colors, slice, optimize, and make minor adjustments. I cannot open photoshop and design a page from scratch. Similarly, in flash I can open it up and make minor changes. I cannot design a pretty flash application from scratch.
You also asked specifically in the context of getting a job. To get a job you need to be
If you are a generalist at everything, or claim to know everything, you won't stand out, and people won't believe you (it may be true, but people still won't believe you). You need to impress your potential boss that you are good at his primary need and that you can "get by" at secondary needs. About things like flash I generally say "I'm not a designer, but I know enough to work with them."
If you've never worked in the field before, then it's hard to give advice beyond that. A career primarily in visual design is very different from a career primarily in development. It's hard to be sure which you want without being in the trenches some first. Be willing to learn new technologies and change if you are not happy where you are.
I do a lot of web development with CSS, HTML, PHP, and a bit of JavaScript. I think you can be a great web developer and not know flash. But the more you know the better. If you ever get the opportunity to learn flash I think you should take it. You never know when a client or an employer may want something in flash.
I'd say that learning a server side language is more important than learning flash.
Sometimes Flash can be handled by a design team that makes graphics, so that aside from a little Javascript to load the SWF, there isn't any work for a web developer is what I have where I work.
If you are focusing on front-end and handling both graphics and interactivity, then knowing Flash is important. However, I wouldn't say that all web developers need to know Flash but some may know a lot about Flash and various other Adobe technologies like Flex.
Another point that you may not know is that there are a lot of web services which return XML for various web applications to work, e.g. anything using AJAX as the X is for XML. These web services are usually written on a server where I'd think C# or Java would be much more common. To be more specific, I'm thinking of systems like Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, or Content Management Systems in the enterprise.
I've been in web development for at least 10 years (4 professionally) and have never found a need for learning Flash at all. The only Flash I have used is an off-the-shelf video player which needed no Flash development knowledge.
Over the past 5 years Javascript (and browsers interpreting it) has got to the stage where Flash is almost obsolete. (HTML video and 3D canvas are a little way off still.)
You can create animations and fades with off-the-shelf frameworks and their plugins. 90% of websites do not require anything more. (And sometimes too much more leads to annoyance and a reduced user experience.)
Obviously Flash development knowledge can't hurt, but there may be more important areas you need to look at.