Adobe Flash Faces Extinction by HTML5 - Even Adobe Admits It

Adobe Systems has dabbed in HTML5, tried it, resisted it, fought it, but now Adobe has taken the plunge and engaged it with the public release of a preview of HTML5 software called 'Eg' Edge.

For years, Adobe was the leader in fancy animation and other stuff that enhanced boring HTML on the Web with its Flash Player.

This was a browser plug-in installed on virtually every computer that many people loved and many people loathed for being too slow.

Flash had the ability to stream video, provide text to sound capability, play animated games, provide catchy animated introductions for many web site - that were impressive but slow - live them or hate them flash was everywhere.

But many companies started to gang up on Flash and Apple refused to install it on the iPhone and iPad claiming it was out of date. You can install a version of flash on iPhone4, but the writing was on the wall for flash.

Many companies including Opera, Mozilla, Microsoft, Apple and Google began to promote the concept that all this stuff could be done with the new Web standards of HTML5, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets, traditionally used for formatting and layout, but now used for animation effects), and JavaScript (the standard, universal built-in Web programming language). Adobe is still working on Flash to keep it relevant for advanced online video, gaming and various business applications, but with Edge, Adobe has engaged HTML5 and the entered the new age of HTML without Flash.

In a sense HTML has got a lot richer and has expanded capabilities that have caught up with Flash and soon this addon will not be needed anymore. Apple refused to allow flash to be installed on iPhones, though it was allowede on Android devices.

Adobe plans to release Edge in 2012 with the feature schedule shown below:

Some of the items yet to be completed include:

• Greater variety of shapes than just rounded-corner rectangles and standard rectangles.
• Actions that are triggered by events.
• Better support for HTML5's Canvas tags, which are standard for 2D drawing and graphics and linking Canvas with SVG animation.

The Edge software integrates with Adobe's Web design software package, Dreamweaver and with other Web tools. Edge designers can seamlessly marry their Edge components with the other programming work using Javascript.

The software itself has a WebKit-based browser. A timeline below the logo allows designers to develop and set events, add effects to different objects by copying and pasting , and make other scheduling changes for the webpage.

Adobe is keen for customers not to regard it as being beghind the times with Flash and to overcome the skepticism and criticism it has faced in the market and to promote itself as a market leader with real software (though still in development) rather than all the talk about Flash.

The aims of the development of Edge were stated by Adobe:

The Project Edge team has strived to develop a truly professional and user friendly application right from the ground up. The team started by examining what users love about Flash Professional, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects and Flash Catalyst applications to create user interfaces and workflows that are both familiar and powerful. Customers need precision in design, positioning and layout as they work with HTML on tablet, smart phone and mobile browsers as well as standard computers. One major objective is to overcome the complexities of working with CSS, which can make object management and layout tricky and unpredictable. These complexities result in the loss of visual fidelity and poor quality. Browser differences are also a major challenge. The team has been working on various options for SVG, CSS3, Canvas, JavaScript, CSS Animations and CSS Transitions, and to provide the best design solutions.

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You can try Edge here.

Features Include: