Steve Jobs recently gave a statement about Adobe Flash that has since made HTML5 one of the biggest buzzwords of our time. Bloggers, techies, and industries are all weighing in the future of Flash, the current state of HTML5, and where we are headed. I don’t have all the answers, but I do have some areas of clarification.

So what is HTML5? Everyone has a different idea. If you look in Wikipedia, it has a fairly basic definition. The one part causing all the debate between HTML5 and Flash is in the last sentence of the definition: “The new standard incorporates features like video playback and drag-and-drop that have been previously dependent on third-party browser plug-ins such as Adobe Flash…” The question is, does HTML5 replace Flash, or will both serve their own place in the future of the web? Let’s start answering this question by clearing up some fallacies of HTML5.

Fallacies of HTML5 

1. CSS3 means HTML5. False. CSS3 is part of the HTML5 family, but it is its own separate standard used for visualization of HTML5. Keep this in mind: HTML only outlines the content structure, while Javascript provides the behavior and CSS provides the presentation.


2. When someone says “I need an HTML5 website!”, they know what they’re talking about. Possibly false. You need to probe further. Ask what, exactly, they are looking for. Usually they want something that doesn’t use a plug-in, has animation and doesn’t refresh the page to get new content. HTML5 is not necessarily used to accomplish this. We may use some parts of the HTML5 core library, such as the <canvas> tag, but most of the visual experience they are looking for is done with extensive use of CSS and Javascript.


3. HTML5 is a replacement for Flash. False. This is currently not the case. For almost all of the Flash work we currently do, you cannot accomplish the same level of interaction and visual experience with pure Javascript, CSS, and HTML. We’re just not there yet, and definitely not there on every browser. However, if the user specifically wants something to work on an iTouch device, we can provide alternatives to the Flash experience via HTML, CSS and Javascript. Depending on the complexity of the Flash piece, the experience might not be the same as in Flash. It all depends on who the client is catering to, which devices the majority of their audience is using to view the piece, etc. From there we can decide on the best implementation.


4. HTML5 is the new standard for viewing web content. Currently false. We’re getting there, but we’re still years behind the adoption of HTML5 as a standard across all browsers. Fortunately, some areas of the HTML5 family are gaining headway faster than others. In fact, a large part of the HTML5 core is currently supported across all the latest browsers, but most of these have nothing to do with replacing functionality that has advantages in Flash.
   

So what can I do in HTML5 today? Not all browsers support all features. Not all features perform as well as we want them to. In Part II, we'll cover the current HTML5 elements, browser support, and performance for these new features.