The Death of 2Advanced (2017)

In 2017, Malan Darras reflected on the decline of 2Advanced, a pioneering web design agency known for its innovative use of Macromedia Flash in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Darras recalled how he was inspired by 2Advanced and Egomedia during his early career in interactive marketing. Flash dominated web design until the emergence of CSS, which shifted focus towards functionality over flashy aesthetics. Darras had previously written a blog post titled "The Death of 2Advanced," which gained significant attention and sparked global discussions about the future of web design. However, as technology evolved, Flash became obsolete due to its performance issues and lack of mobile compatibility, leading to the eventual demise of both 2Advanced and Egomedia. In December 2020, Adobe officially ended support for Flash, marking the end of an era. Darras expressed nostalgia for the creativity and excitement of the Flash era, noting that many once-popular Flash sites had been replaced with simpler HTML versions. He also mentioned the Wayback Machine, which allowed him to recover his original blog post, serving as a memorial to the impact of Flash on web design. Darras concluded by acknowledging the shift towards more usable and efficient web standards, while reminiscing about the vibrant and expressive nature of early web design.