HTML5 vs. Flash – The War Begins
Not surprisingly there was a lot of talk at SXSW about the iPad and what it means for content creators, designers and developers. One of the first things I noticed when attending panels related to the iPad was that sides are being chosen. Though a few people approached the design and development challenges introduced by the iPad pragmatically, most were either declaring that Flash was dead (and long live HTML5) or that the iPad was going to flop (at least in part due to its lack of support for Flash). In a way the HTML5 versus Flash debate is very much an extension of the Mac versus PC debate, which is really disappointing. It should be about the right tools for the job.
In all likelihood both HTML5 and Flash will coexist for years to come. Though there is a lot of overlap in what each can do, both have their strengths and weaknesses. HTML5 does not require a third party plug-in, it’s an open standard which anyone can create development tools for, and it has huge support on mobile platforms. Flash has the benefit being an established platform with solid development tools and existing UI and development libraries to draw from. It also handles video more seamlessly than HTML5, which as of yet does not have a standard video codec defined, meaning there is no standard way of compressing video for HTML5 (there is a heated debate going on which codec should be used and no resolution is in site.)
What the HTML5 versus Flash argument amounts to is that, in spite of the dreams of graceful degradation and cross browser compatibility, designers and developers are going to have to design and develop for specific platforms. Ultimately this is not a bad thing, in fact from a design perspective, it’s a really good thing. There is a widening spectrum of net enabled devices that include desktops, laptops, tablets and smart-phones. Each device has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, its own set of constraints and limitations. Designing variations of one user experience for all devices will result in an ideal experience for one device and a compromised experience on all the others.