One of the greatest battles for supremacy in the multimedia web market is the one between Flash and HTML 5. So far it looks like Flash, despite the monopoly created for this market, is becoming increasingly threatened by the new technology known as HTML 5. Until recently, this new multimedia platform was just a solution for static web pages, without offering too many options like the dynamism Flash used to impress with.
On the other hand, Flash is an application built and maintained by Adobe and has the ability to play multimedia content dynamically: from pictures, music and movies to effects of any kind! Those who contributed to the development of HTML5 have learned from Adobe’s mistakes and even provided better results in some cases, which lead to this new platform.
Some aspects to consider when comparing the two technologies are the following:
– The biggest advantage offered by HTML 5 is its ability to play multimedia content without installing any additional software compared to the Flash Player required by Adobe, which is currently not available for devices such as iOS gadgets.
– HTML 5 currently has 40% support in browsers, while Flash impresses with a 99% compatibility. However, more and more browsers are expected to offer support for HTML 5 in the near future.
– The potential audience is also detrimental for HTML 5, with 800 million potential users compared with Flash, which reached 2 billion.
– If we look at functionality, Flash has a considerable advantage in 3D rendering, and real time data transfer.
– In terms of resource consumption, it seems that Flash is still a solution for those with less efficient units, proving to be faster by up to 58% in Google Chrome. For Mac, on the other hand, Flash is not as efficient as HTML 5 and this is because the application is trying to appeal to the graphics accelerator system, which is impossible due to hardware restrictions.
HTML 5 is still regarded by many as a technology for the future, because of the possibilities it allows. If used in combination with JavaScript or CSS3, for example, the results can be surprising. Here are some even further comparison criteria between Flash and HTML 5:
1. Interaction
Both HTML5 and Flash provide similar functions for websites, but currently Flash is superior in terms of the rich interactive environment.
2. Consistency
One of the biggest advantages of Flash is that the website built with it looks the same on almost all platforms, operating systems and browsers. On the other hand, since every browser has integrated the HTML5 standard differently, there may be variations on how the website built with this solution is displayed. For example, a font may be slightly different (can be larger or smaller, thicker or thinner) in Windows than in Linux. Your website will be created consistently with Flash and you will have to accept the fact that it may not look the same everywhere if you choose HTML 5.
3. Performance
Performance depends heavily on the feature being used or how the device has been programmed and used for viewing. In general, we can say that a particular technology has a better performance. Referring to these two technologies, one thing is certain. A website built with HTML 5 will always load faster than a Flash website. This is because a website built with Flash is displayed through an external service, Flash Player, which takes some time to load in the browser.
4. Multiplatform
Flash has a high percentage of use (over 99%) in notebook computers and desktop PCs, where HTML5 holds 40-50%. This difference is because HTML5 is still a new technology and is not supported by many older browsers. Modern tablets (e.g. iPad) and smartphones (e.g. iPhone), on the other hand, offer support for HTML5 and do not support Flash at all.
5 Search Engine Compatibility
Both Flash and HTML5 websites can be indexed by search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.). The effectiveness of the results depends on the way the website was programmed. Building a SEO friendly web page is possible with both technologies if used properly.
