Is HTML5 Ready To Take Over From Flash? 468
The Flash platform has been taking body blows lately. First Apple, then Scribd, publicly abandon it; now ARM's marketing VP is blaming a delay in ARM smartbooks on the continuing unsuitability of Flash for the subnotebook market. But how ready is HTML5 to take over from Flash? Tim Bray offers a cautionary appraisal of the not-yet-a-standard's state of grace. While Flash may be on the way out (or so legions of its detractors hope), it is still important in many corners of the Web. Here a branding expert demonstrates that the sites of 10 out of 10 leading worldwide brands don't display on the iPad — because they're coded in Flash, of course.
i've seen javascript slow down my machines (Score:5, Interesting)
played with Google Wave late last year and it's javascript heavy. with a few public waves on the screen i've seen my browser memory usage jump to around 500MB. this is on all browsers. IE8, Chrome and Firefox. so it looks like a choice between RAM hungry HTML5 and CPU heavy Flash
Re:Apple showed (Score:3, Interesting)
Or, you could just be patient and wait for a good one. Or, you could take that $500+ and buy a laptop. People can like the interface, they can like Apple, whatever...it doesn't change the fact they are defending their choice to pay more for less.
Just my opinion, of course.
Re:Why should anyone care about scribd? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yeah - they used Flash to display documents, so I never got to use the site. Since they're moving (moved?) content distribution to HTML5, that sentiment might be reversed now.
Scribd documents show up relatively frequently in my Google searches; I may have to start training my eyes to stop avoiding links to scribd.com.
Re:Not for everything. (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't expect HTML5 to crush Flash even for video. Unless a majority of users move over the HTML5 compatible browsers, it isn't going to work.
First, all the major browser vendors are making some support for HTML5 in their browsers. Second, for browsers that don't support enough HTML5 for a task, they need a plugin for Flash, or the Google Chrome plugin for HTML5 so they are on par.
...what makes you think that these companies would think the ability to see video on the web being a good enough reason to transfer their users to HTML5 compatible browsers?
I don't think anyone thinks that, but at the same time many of those companies also ban Flash already and those that don't probably won't ban Google Frame.
Re:See, this is what I've been saying on Slashdot (Score:3, Interesting)
It's interesting to me that you mention PS/2 connectors. As part of a development project my client gave me a Mac Mini.
Now the mini has been pushed as the easiest way for a PC user to switch to a Mac. But guess what - I couldn't plug my existing keyboard into it, I couldn't plug my existing mouse into it and I couldn't plug my existing headset into it. Fortunately, Apple did provide an adapter so you could connect it to a monitor with a VGA connector.
So rather than being a device to convince users to switch to the Mac platform, it's really an introduction to Apple's limited vision.
Re:No, at least (Score:3, Interesting)
Why would I ever want a website to have access to my camera or microphone?
Are you serious?? Is this just trollbait???
Re:See, this is what I've been saying on Slashdot (Score:4, Interesting)
The web is ruled by web DESIGNERS and not developers/coders.
Unless someone comes up with a tool that does the same dynamic websites, animations, vector image drawing etc in HTML5 with the ease that non-coder designers can do in Flash, you won't be seeing Flash dying anytime soon.
Moreover, Adobe is in the business of selling creative authoring tools and not directly with Flash itself.
As such, with HTML5 as an emerging standard, Adobe is now going try to make the best darn-tootin' tools for creating HTML5 content [digitalbackcountry.com] according to Adobe's CTO Kevin Lynch.
Re:Apple showed (Score:3, Interesting)
Like he said... you're opinion is different than most. I still don't understand why anyone here makes such a big deal about the fact that Apple creates products that aren't designed for them.
You've basically said that you don't understand that people have different opinions than you. People aren't paying for less. They are paying for what they want. "Less" has nothing to do with anything. Less than what? Less than what you want? Less than what someone else provides?