Mobile Devices and HTML5

Internet on mobile phones is still a young technology but one that is rapidly developing. With the iPhone dominating mobile phone markets it is the benchmark in mobile Internet, though competitors like Google’s Android platform are gaining a market share.

The iPhone – and now the iPad too – are interesting because neither offers support for Flash, the most popular program for putting animation on websites. Many modern web design techniques – including scrolling slideshows, news displays, audio and video features – are designed with Flash, and almost everyone uses it whether they realize it or not, estimates say more than 98% of Internet-enabled PCs have Flash installed.

So, Flash has been a significant hurdle to Apple’s mobile Internet range, however HTML5 presents a handy solution. Apple’s Internet browser, Safari, is at the head of the pack in terms of browser compatibility for HTML5, which extends to its mobile Internet version of Safari as well.

Essentially, one of the major benefits of HTML5 is that it offers all the features of Flash without having to use an external application. So, it simplifies the work for web designers because they have one less programming language to deal with, and it provides a simple workaround for Apple and its mobile Internet products.

As a further benefit, HTML5 can accomplish the same things as Flash in a smaller file, meaning web pages will load faster and designers will have less clutter in their work.

The other major benefit of HTML5 for mobile Internet is that it is a standard that can be recognised across all devices. Currently, developers are creating an application for Apple products, and then reworking it to be compatible with Android, Blackberry and so on. HTML5 is a universal standard, meaning that web applications are becoming increasingly popular.

Posted by: Sukhbir Mehla

No comments found.