With the battle lines between HTML5 and Flash drawn, Apple has launched an HTML5 showcase on its web site. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company said the feature shows "how Apple's Safari web browser, new Macs, and new Apple mobile devices all support the capabilities of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript."
As the site notes, not all browsers currently support these standards, but it said "soon other modern browsers" will. Apple has been engaged in a major battle with Adobe Systems over its Flash technology, which Apple does not allow on its iPad, iPhone or iPod touch mobile devices.
The showcase features demonstrations of video, typography, a photo gallery, transitions between images, audio, 360-degree image rotations, and VR. Many demos contain real-time interactive controls. The VR demo requires a browser that supports CSS 3-D transforms -- which, Apple indicates, means Safari on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or on a device using the iPhone OS, or the latest WebKit Nightly Build.
Interestingly, no demo is provided for animation, the media format for which Flash first became known.
The showcase also spotlights about three dozen major sites that are now offering HTML5 content. These include CNN, Reuters, The New York Times, Vimeo, Time, ESPN, Major League Baseball, Netflix, NPR, the National Hockey League, Sports Illustrated, Virgin America, and the White House.
While Adobe is offering HTML5 tools and other major companies such as Google have also backed the standard, the counter argument has been that it is not yet fully implemented to do all the things that Flash can. In addition, Flash is ubiquitous on the web for video and interactive animation, and the question is whether countless web sites will create or substitute an HTML5 version to support Apple's devices.
Last month, Hulu.com announced major Flash-based updates to its popular video site....
Posted: 2010-06-04 14:57:09
