HTML5 and the iPad may spell the death of Flash
YouTube and Vimeo began testing HTML5 video players that in the future will replace Flash ones. Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer (with Chrome Frame installed) users can test HTML 5 videos on YouTube, but Firefox users can’t yet because the browser doesn’t support the H.264 video codec.
Why is everybody so excited about HTML5? The advantage of using HTML5 video tags instead of Flash is that you won’t need to install any browser plugin (you just need an HTML5 compatible browser) and video playback will require less CPU resources. Web browsing will be faster.
HTML5 video tags can also make video buffering start automatically even before the page has fully loaded. This would be the best choice for a video sharing site, but when the purpose of the page is not just showing a video, disabling automatic buffering would be the best option.
Why the Apple iPad doesn’t support Adobe Flash
Apple’s new iPad doesn’t support Adobe Flash and the main reason behind this controversial choice is the fact that Flash is the #1 cause of OS X crashes. The latest Mac OS, Snow Leopard, separates Safari from web plugin application processes: This way a browser plugin crash would not make Safari crash too.
The iPhone and the iPad fast mobile web browsing experience wouldn’t be as fast if they had to process Flash content. The iPad isn’t offering the full web experience it promised, but in the end it seems a reasonable design trade-off (unless you were expecting a desktop OS and a fast spinning fan on the iPad).
HTML5 video on YouTube and Vimeo
HTML5 in YouTube and Vimeo is still at a Beta stage, it employs only the H.264 codec and it doesn’t currently support full screen viewing. The YouTube monetization team will also have to find a way to include ad overlays, captions and annotations to HTML5 rendered videos: These features will probably be available in improved versions of the video player.
Adobe Flash is ubiquitous on websites, as the Floppy drive was on computers a few years ago before Apple and CDs sealed its fate. When major players like Apple and Google join forces to battle Adobe in the name of a faster and more open internet (each following its own agenda), the end of Flash could just be a matter of time.
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