As more and more Apple products such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad are being released without flash support, people, especially developers, are wondering, “will flash die out?” It’s just been speculation for a long time – but now, it’s turning into reality.
W3C is right now working on what they call HTML5. If Apple gets its way (which it probably will) HTML5 will eventually replace Flash.
First of all, maybe I should clarify what Flash and HTML5 actually is. Flash is a plug-in created by Adobe. It basically plays animated content on the web. Flash is also a life-saver for developers like me. It is so much easier to create than HTML5.
HTML5 is meant to create the same-type animated content, but in a different way. HTML5 is really just an “upgrade” from HTML4 (which is the core programming language used in web development). It provides options for developers that HTML4 could never do. Some of these options (including one that allows us to embed a video without using a plug-in) will help us do what up to now, only flash could do.
Although HTML5 still can’t do everything Flash can do, some say that when used in conjunction with JavaScript and CSS (other programming languages), we will no longer need Flash. Is that true? Probably, yes. Does that mean we should dump Flash? Not necessarily.
Remember I wrote that “Flash is a life-saver for developers like me”? Well, the reason, of course, is that Flash is very easy to create with the help of Adobe’s Flash Professional. However, this is not the case with HTML5. In fact, using HTML5 will take many, many more hours to create than Flash did. This means that it will cost a lot more money to get a website built. And, especially in our low economy, that isn’t too good.
Why then, does Apple want to get away from Flash? Well, it has caused a lot of frustration to people with Macs. Windows users, however, do not usually have problems with Flash. I think it could, and should run better on Macs, but Apple doesn’t think so. It’s just ready to get rid of Flash.
I don’t think all is lost for Flash, however. For one thing, Internet Explorer, the most used browser in the world, doesn’t support most of the options in HTML5 (not yet anyway). And, we all know that Flash isn’t about ready to give up! Also, we must remember that HTML5 is still in the beginning stage of development, and may end up dying out before it is completed.
There is still a very good chance, however, that HTML5 will succeed, and destroy the plug-in we have all come to know and love. It may be a good thing to get away from Flash in the end, but it will cause lots of problems in the beginning!
