We can name several technologies for displaying 2D interactive vector graphics on web however, two names rises among other contenders. These are Macromedia’s Shock Wave Flash (SWF) and World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). Unlike Flash SVG is not for sale. Adobe's SVG browser plug-in has achieved barely around 10% penetration, compared to Macromedia's 90% for Flash plug-in. Flash has already established an outstanding standard nevertheless, this did not make SVG an inferior technology.
In past Flash was considered a de-facto standard under control of one single vendor. For this reason, W3C proposed a recommendation to achieve standardized 2D interactive vector graphics on web. This resulted to birth of SVG. Its first version was Recommendation 1.0 which was introduced in 2001. The current version though is 1.1 which was released on January 2003.
Some people asserts that SVG is as powerful as Flash. Some say it is superior. But still there are others who think it’s other way around. Which is which really?! To help you decide here are some vital facts:
Use Flash in following instances:
1.You must use Flash if you want to make a Flash-like website. To replicate it using SVG is hard to do.
2.If you want to create complex animations or games you can use any of two. However, you must be aware that SVG’s built-in SMIL animation engine is very processor exhaustive. Conversely, good results can be achieved using JavaScript animations.
3.If your users are not that computer literate like for example children for a children’s site or a site appealing to a broad audience, you must use Flash.