What will be the impact of Adobe’s switch from Flash to HTML5?

There’s a lot of talk online at the moment regarding Adobe’s decision to scrap production on a mobile version of Flash, and switch focus to HTML5 from here on out.

Back in April 2010, following criticism from the late Steve Jobs, Adobe resolutely stood by its Flash mobile plug-in, suggesting it would be “continue to be the dominant tool” for media across the internet. Just over 18 months later and Adobe has had a change of heart, commenting via its blog that HTML5 is the “best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms”.

It’s hardly surprising given that HTML is universally supported across major mobile devices and, in the case of Apple’s iPad and iPod, exclusively so.

Resource hog

Having experienced working with both flash, and more recently, HTML5 as a front end developer, I can’t think of a single reason why Flash will be required any longer, especially in the mobile domain.

For starters, Flash has always been a resource hog. In order to process a Flash movie, for example, a user’s CPU/GPU has to do a variety of vector calculations and more besides (all the while eating up memory and slowing down the user’s system). The pay-off, of course, was that users got pretty graphics, nice animation and good support for audio/video.

To some degree with HTML5/CSS3 it’s now possible to reproduce these graphics and animations, and some would argue it offers even stronger audio/video capabilities; all in a much more controlled approach by the browser (i.e. less processor intensive).

So why not let the browser and HTML5 do the work natively, rather than through a third-party plug-in?

HTML5 support

As IDC analyst Al Hilwa also pointed out… “…HTML5 is coming on strong as a standard, accelerated by the speed of change of hardware devices. By 2013 we will reach a point where 90% of smartphones and tablets will sport HTML5 capable browsers.”

So as we can see, with HTML5 so well supported already (iPhone, Android, Blackberry) and the support only increasing, why continue using Flash?

“But what about my flash games?” I hear you (and many of the Rippleffect team) cry. Well, following this announcement from Adobe, it can only be a matter of time before we start to see everyone’s favourite games popping up in every major platforms app store, as well as the now inevitable HTML5 versions.

Desktop accessibility

More important, however, is accessibility on the desktop; and I think this is where flash will be disappearing from next.

Flash worked wonders for clients who wanted slick-looking websites all the way back to its first version. But it has always had a major flaw: its lack of accessibility.

As our understanding of web standards and users’ needs have grown, so too has the demand for accessible sites. Businesses want to reach as many people as possible with their message, but have to compromise on the design due to Flash’s lack of accessibility.

HTML5 gives us the tools to create the sites clients have always wanted; a website that is compliant with the World Wide Web Consortium’s AAA standard for accessibility, but which also looks amazing.

Digital agencies and businesses should be embracing HTML5 with open arms.

David Churchill, front end developer, Rippleffect