Read some web design or development blogs and you will realize that everyone is super excited about HTML5. People are calling it the “future of web” and that “HTML5 will replace Flash.” Its good to hear that HTML can provide the media rich experience, but is it as good as Flash and more importantly will you be able to view HTML5 content from any browser?
The main accusation against Flash is that it’s heavy and requires Flash player to run any media file. So, how does HTML5 act? Doesn’t it need any plug-in to play video or animation?
When you develop a dynamic website in HTML5, codes do the magic for you. There is no external plug-in like Flash player to play the video or audio files. That means unlike Flash websites, people can access a HTML5 site from both computer and mobile devices. Sounds great, right? However, there is a catch.
Apple, I mean Steve Jobs J supported HTML5 heavily and said it’s the ultimate web multimedia solution, but he forgot one thing. A Flash website can be viewed in any browser (except some mobile browsers). On the other hand, HTML5 websites work on latest browsers, but older browsers such as IE7 doesn’t support HTML5 feature.
Apple may cry for HTML5, but if a HTML5 website can’t be viewed in both old and new browsers, how can you satisfy global audience? A website owner can’t tell people to use a particular browser to view his site. Besides, HTML5 is not equally supported in each browser. Especially, Apple’s own pet Safari offers extremely poor HTML5 support!
If you want to know the HTML5 compatibility of the browser you are using, just visit www.html5test.com
HTML5 may have a bright future, but that future is far away. Last year, Adobe said that they will stop developing Flash player for mobile devices and concentrate on HTML5, but when it comes to cross browser support and true multimedia experience, HTML5 is still a Lilliputian.
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