The HTML5 versus Flash debate has been a hot topic among Web developers for years – and even more in recent years. In fact, the main reason that iOS devices do not support Flash, is because of Steve Jobs’ ardent belief that HTML5 was the future, and Flash was “no longer necessary” as he stated in an open letter in 2010. But no matter what side of the fence you are on, there is no denying the impact of HTML5 on video and the web.
For online video, HTML5 has several things that Flash does not: mobile capabilities and semantic markup. For those of you non tech nerds out there, Wikipedia defines Semantic HTML, as “the use of HTML markup to reinforce the semantics, or meaning, of the information in webpages and web applications rather than merely to define its presentation or look. Semantic HTML is processed by traditional web browsers as well as by many other user agents.” The growth of mobile engagement with interactive video and HTML5’s open structure all combine to create the future of an HTML5-based Web, leaving the player based Flash program in the past.
Since the first version of HTML5 was published back in 2008, mobile has been slated as one of the publishing language’s largest advantages. And since iOS and many Android devices don’t support Flash, Flash is bound to PCs – which, according to Forbes , is a market that has been steadily declining since 2007 – the year the iPhone was launched. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2015, “Nearly two-thirds of Americans owned a smartphone, and 19% of Americans relied to some degree on a smartphone for accessing online services and information for staying connected, because they lack internet at home, or because they have few options for online access other than their cell phones.”
Those numbers will continue to increase, and companies making Flash-based Videos are missing out on a huge audience by not enabling their videos to run on mobile devices. Now, what does this mean for the world of online events and webcasting you ask? A lot of big name webcasting providers such as INXPO and ON24 are already delivering Cross-Platform HTML5 Based Webcasting. What does that mean? For ON24, it means that regardless of device, all users will have access to the same features in the webcast and it will work across all devices and platforms with no application downloads or installations. With the new INXPO STUDIO, the HTML5 based platform allows responsive interaction for mobile users, simple switching between speakers and locations, and no flash plugin necessary, for greater security and browser coverage.
The future is already here in the world of webcasting and HTML5 and we believe will continue to grow with the high demand for mobile integration, the need to increase security, and to do away with plugins and players.
Jessica Craig
V2 | Virtual Event Manager