Flash vs. HTML5 Blog Assignment

Flash

Flash is a rich media support application developed by Adobe for creating animations on the Web. It is proprietary software requiring a purchased license in order to own and use the software.  Users must install a Flash plug-in (ancillary software that adds extra functionality to a Web browser application) in order to view Flash videos. Adobe offers this plug-in as a free download, compatible with most Web browser versions released within the past couple years.

HTML5

HTML5 is the next generation of standard Web site design programming, as defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). HTML5 combines HTML, XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript and offers functionality that previously required plug-ins. HTML5 introduces new semantic replacements (<footer> tag, for example) and continues to lead designers to the use of CSS by deprecating text formatting tags like <font>. Additionally, HTML5 introduces some new application programming interfaces (API) that allow programmers to draw 2D objects, embed video, edit documents, drag-and-drop interface and utilize geolocation, all without the use of plug-ins.

Flash vs. HTML5

I never have been a fan of Flash. As a designer, the program is expensive and too complex to learn without formal instruction. As a Web user, I find Flash to more often than not be more annoying than useful, and I usually skip most Flash intros that I come across. However, I think that since the “awe factor” has worn off a little, Flash is being used in more efficient and productive manners and many sites are quite cool.

I attended an Adobe CS5 workshop this week that showed how easy Adobe is making it to include Flash animation (SWF files) for the Web without actually having to use the Flash program. Animations and audio can be created within an InDesign document; no programming required.  It’s pretty amazing how quick and easy it can be. But the programmer in me is really drawn to the promises of HTML5.

I like the idea of HTML5’s capabilities being open source and available to everyone without paying hundreds of dollars for software.  I also like that the base of HTML5 is HTML and CSS, which are both languages I’m already familiar with.

I can see both sides of the Flash vs. HTML5 debate, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Other Sources:

• An HTML5 FAQ for Publishers

The Journey Begins Here

Today is day one of my journey through Interactive Media. I'm sooo looking forward to getting up to speed with the exciting world of Web media.

The Web has been an exciting adventure for me for half my life. I built my first Web site when I was 14 years old and have built many since then. All HTML. All from scratch, starting with a completely blank slate, with the HTML 4 Visual Quickstart Guide (3rd Edition) by my side. So it makes me incredibly happy to be sitting here, beginning this journey with the 6th Edition of the CSS, XHTML and HTML Visual Quickstart Guide by my side.

Having been on a hiatus from Web design.. and really design at all.. for about 5 years, I was WAY out of the loop. CSS didn't come into play for me until about 4 months ago. It all started in April when I attended the Emerge conference put on by Consolidated Graphics (CGX) in San Antonio, TX. It was amazing. CGX is a collaboration of 22 individually-owned printers. Here was this group of commercial printers meeting to talk about.. interactive media? Huh? The reality is.. that's the way that marketing and communications is headed. Cross Media is taking over, and companies in the print business are going to have to find a way to make it work for them.

Needless to say, I was hooked and I started wondering why I had stopped growing with the World Wide Web. Why did I stop doing something that I had LOVED doing before? I had built Web sites all the time throughout high school, and even built a site at college that was a sort of pre-Craigslist forum for buying & selling textbooks. (It went over very well, by the way, but built in static HTML with submissions by forms to my e-mail, it was far too difficult to maintain and I had to end it after just one semester.) My Graphic Design curriculum at Simpson College didn't have a Web component. Well, it was supposed to, but my professor chose not to cover the Web portion. Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was doomed for failure as a Graphic Designer before I even began--I was going to bat an arm short.

Back to the present.. after Emerge, I had to learn more. I started reading online about the benefits of CSS. I was blown away. Who would've thought that you could do "mouseovers" and even draw circles using just CSS. As I kept reading, I discovered XHTML.. which knocks out half of the coding I'd been using my whole Web designing life. Build a page without tables? No frames? Not even a "<font color=red>" tag? Are you kidding me? I had to keep learning as fast as possible.

 I looked into classroom courses as well as online courses and ultimately decided that I could learn everything I needed to know Online. So I signed up for two online classes through Ed2go, Intro to CSS & XHTML and Intro to PHP & MySQL. Both classes were extremely well-conceived and only fueled my mission. Next, I enrolled in Intro to ASP.NET, which also worked with SQL statements and gave my my first taste of a Web authoring software, Microsoft Visual Web Developer.

So, in this class, I'm super excited to work with Dreamweaver and Fireworks. I have a pretty good understanding of the code side of CSS and (X)HTML and I'm ready to learn how to let Dreamweaver do some of the work for me. I hope that with a few more classes and a little more time and practice, I'll be able to get back to where I started--designing Web sites. I can't wait to get there.

Pages That Inspire Me

Here are a few links to pages that inspire me:

• La Vista restaurant. This Web site inspires me because of its design. It is so inviting that it just really makes me want to go to this restaurant. The photos are amazing. The simple animation on the home page adds a lot of depth that interest. The navigation is simple and to the point.

•  Cupcake Chic. I like this Web site because, again, it's simple and to the point. It uses imagery to make your mouth water. I also love this Web site because I love making cupcakes myself, and I need to make a Web site to advertise my mini-business.

• Blue Cadet Interactive. I love this site's use of Flash animation. I've always wanted to learn Flash but haven't had the patience to learn it on my own. Flash animations are often annoying, but it is used very well on Blue Cadet's site. Once again, I'm drawn to the photos and imagery, but especially on this site the textures used to add depth.