There’s a lot of talk about the battle between HTML5 and Flash lately, and many people have entered the debate. With all the discussion, it’s difficult to find a clear, digestible version of the good and bad about HTML5 and Flash, and a recommended course to follow for the future. Since the HTML5/Flash debate is largely about video, I’ll focus on video for this article.
HTML5
Pros
• Hardware acceleration. This means relying on your computer or mobile device’s built-in power for viewing video, rather than using software (like Flash) as a wrapper. In theory, this means better performance.
• No plugin necessary. Plugins are hassles. In a perfect world, everything would just “work”. Life without plugins is a step in that direction.
• Good on mobile devices. This could be filed under hardware acceleration, since that’s exactly why HTML5 video is excellent for mobile devices, but the future of the web is in the mobile realm, and HTML5 does a great job at moving in that direction.
• Free and open. You can build HMTL5 apps without having to pay the man for anything.
Cons
• No easily manageable Digital Rights Management. DRM is a hassle to implement with HTML5, requiring special types of servers and settings. Lack of DRM means no Hulu, or other commercial content, since anyone can right-click and save a video to their computer. However, this is largely only a problem on full computers, and not mobile devices, since it’s much more difficult to download/save videos directly from a mobile device.
• Poor support right now. Currently, only Chrome and Safari support H.264 video with HTML5. The combined market share of those browsers is about 6%. Not good. Firefox will likely eventually support the dominant video codec. Internet Explorer will support H.264 in the next version- 9.0. Sadly though, about 35% of people browsing the web are using Internet Explorer 7 or below. These people are unlikely to upgrade to version 9 when it comes out, seeing as they haven’t upgraded to version 8 yet. So, with those stats, less than 10% of people browsing the web on full computers now can see HTML5 video, and within a year or two, that percentage will jump to about 65%. Not impressive.
Flash
Pros
• Easy DRM. While it’s still possible to decompile Flash content, it is a lot more difficult than right-clicking. Simply using Flash automatically creates a block for many people who would download your content illegally. This is why Flash is the main choice for places like YouTube, Hulu, and most other video sites.
Easy Ads. Like DRM, people interested in making money off of video on the web want to easily insert ads. With Flash, there are many choices to serve that need.
• Everyone has it right now. With about a 97% market share, virtually everyone has Flash- at least on desktop computers.
Cons
• Plugin.
• Development costs money. You have to pay for Flash Pro for Flash Builder in order to develop apps to deploy video.
• Hasn’t proven to be amazing on mobile devices. As much as all of us Flash folk would love to see Flash on the iPhone and other iThings, Flash hasn’t proven itself thus far in the mobile world. I’m not saying it’s never going to happen, but as of today, it hasn’t.
Suggestion
Flash and HTML5 both have strengths and weaknesses. As far as video is concerned, Flash seems like the clear choice on the desktop for now, but HTML5 seems superior for mobile devices. With JavaScript libraries like SWFObject, you can do both. Create a Flash version for full computers and an HTML5 version for mobile devices. Contact Brill Creative and let us help you choose and develop the best solutions for your needs.
Credit: Todd Perkins
