As most of you know, there is a big buzz about HTML5 at the moment and there are some really cool people doing some really cool things with it including us at work. The so called “Flash killer” was discussed as a long term replacement for the Flash based solutions we have been making at work unless it was deemed “extremely necessary”.
For those unaware, HTML is the nuts and bolts that web pages are built with (including this blog). The term HTML5 is the 5th Major release of this language but it also includes several other new and old technologies such as CSS3 and JavaScript. HTML5 includes some significant advances over its predecessors such as; style handling, offline storage, drag and drop, animations, custom fonts and native video/audio players. If you speak to any HTML5 evangelist they will tell you that you should be using it by now. This assumes that most of your audience will have a modern browser capable of delivering HTML5 (like the world outside). But from my research, the corporate environment it is most likely the opposite, only a small number of your users will have a browser capable of viewing HTML5 sites. This is because unfortunately the corporate world tends to lag behind in the software stakes. So there is a high probability that your users will not have a HTML5 enabled device and if they do it is likely to be their phone not their PC.
I admit, I work with a few clients that still support Internet Explorer 6 and 7 as their main browser, which are mainly universities. As you may know, these browsers have little or no support for HTML5. It is not that HTML5 is bad it’s just that Flash has had a 15 year head start and excels at rich animations and complex games, but with the advance of Canvas, it is likely that HTML5 will no doubt succeed in gaining popularity in e-learning development.
But personally I don’t think Flash is going to disappear, it will keep improving and pushing the envelope and will no doubt remain the number 1 choice for high end dynamic web-delivered e-learning courses. Be it HTML5 or Flash Games or Unity solutions, you have to maintain the primary goal of making smart choices around your ideas and demographics. Nothing is the “be all, end all” approach to the problems we try to solve for our clients. Making smart choices, evolving and adapting is what this is all about.
Campbell Craig 