Now imagine that title said with some intensity and you’ve got the kind of feeling Apple wants to convey to you. Today Apple opened up a new section of their website for developers lauding and showing off the abilities of HTML5 with a few demos of the technology. Included is an example of text manipulation using CSS3 and Javascript, slide transitions a la Powerpoint using HTML5 and CSS3, photo gallery animations using 3D effects, embedded video and audio, 360˚ image rotation, and virtual reality overlays. Apple is really pushing the combined technology of javascript, CSS3 and HTML5 as an alternative to Flash and these examples do a lot to show the power of these standards. One of the big pluses that Apple is focusing on with these little demos is that you don’t need plug-ins or even embedded images and files, everything is augmented by HTML5. Take a look at the demos here: HTML5 Demos.
So how well does it work? Pretty well. Video was exceptionally clear and high quality, but then again it was on Apple’s website using highly optimized H.264 video. Playback was choppy at higher resolutions, but I blame that on my slower computer. All in all it performed just as well as Flash does. All the demos are pretty impressive, but it remains to be seen if web developers will put that much effort into it as Apple has. Also, keep in mind that not every browser full supports HTML5 and CSS3 + SVG, so these features may not all work exactly the same on Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer (though the next version of all these browsers will probably fix that). In a bit of irony, I actually could not run one of the demos (the VR segment) because it requires support for CSS3 3D animation, which Safari 4 on Leopard does not support. I’ll have to revisit that one once I get my new computer for college.
So, what do you think? This good enough to replace Flash?
2 comments
Philip "Shvitzel" Ehrenberg
June 5, 2010 at 11:28 AM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ironic; for all their touting of embracing web standards and making HTML5 “the web” itself, I have to download Safari to even view and play with the demos.
Keary PCBTOOLS
June 7, 2010 at 4:43 PM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ironic; for all their touting of embracing web standards and making HTML5 “the web” itself, I have to download Safari to even view and play with the demos.
+1