How can HTML5 “replace” Flash? [closed]

Answer 1

Web developers still care for a browser like IE6 which is really old, so you can be sure that Flash and similar technologies will be around for a long long time...

Answer 2

It is not simply HTML5, but when browser adoption of it is complete. For instance, the presence of the HTML5 <video> tag means nothing without a browser provided video player to actually present the video (At which point, the hope is, Flash Video will no longer be needed). Same goes for the <audio> tag.

Additionally, HTML5's canvas element (combined with JS) allows for far more advanced graphics inside a browser than could be achieved before.

Answer 3

The modern browser that support HTML5 standard have capability to playing supported media file inside the browser, without needing 3rd party plugins.

You can try this by yourself. Latest version of Safary and Google Chrome, (Firefox 3.6 too) can play <video> tag in a HTML5 page directly. YouTube now support HTML5.

That's why iPad will be able to play video if the video site is using HTML5, without Adobe Flash plugins, using Safari browser that fully comply the HTML5 standard.

Answer 4

I first heard the comment of "HTML replacing Flash" from Steve Jobs. (He hates Flash perhaps because it crashes on his Mac computers I'm not sure. I think he's out of touch. The proof is his ridiculous product the "iPad".)

The point is HOW GOOD IS IT FOR DEVELOPERS? Answer: not as good as Flash. Yet. Why do I say this with my limited experience? It's all that "try... catch" compatibility code you need in Javascript to work in all the browsers. WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH. ActionScript/Flash is ONE piece of code/app for ALL browsers.

The other thing Flash has is graphical (and non-graphical) development software tools to streamline the process.

So THE SHORT ANSWER IS THAT ADOBE WON'T LET HTML5 "replace" flash, at least for the short term. But it can compete with Flash if people make enough development tools for it particularly WYSIWYG graphical tools, like if Google develop an easy to use WYSIWYG editor for making GWT apps. And that's a big IF.

Answer 5

A lot of people claim HTML5 will kill off plugins like Flash and Silverlight, but that simply isn't the case.

Take for instance, this scenario.

Load a binary file over a url. For the sake of the demo, we'll use shapefile format (.shp), which contains geographical polygons in a coordinate system.

Parse the byte contents client side.

Draw the contents in an efficient manner.

Demo: http://www.libertyvanguard.com/liberty-gis

This is just one example where plugin technology won't be replace by HTML5.

Answer 6

Simply put, many are hoping that HTML5 features paired with javascript can provide a better, cheaper, more efficient graphical web experience than flash. Consider that many sophisticated websites like gmail, google maps, and youtube can run without any flash using HTML and javascript. Improvements being made to javascript and HTML allow for websites to develop even richer graphical & animation features without resorting to paying Adobe.