Who Will Win, Flash or HTML 5?

The iPad and more specifically Steve Jobs has created a bitter competition between Flash an HTML 5. So what is all the fuss about? Is HTML 5 really going to make Flash obsolete in the coming years? To be honest. This wouldn’t even be a question if it weren’t for Steve Jobs and his star power.

At this point in time Flash is no where near becoming obsolete, and HTML 5 and flash should be used together. Both technologies are great and both for different reasons.

Flash programming is out preforming HTML 5 in speed, interactivity, and customization. Steve Jobs says that HTML 5 is the future, and although he may be right this is certainly not the case at this point in time. HTML 5 when used to perform simple tasks like fade in and fade out take up a pretty substantial amount of processor power. In it’s simplest form this is a problem. More dynamic illustrations and interactivity become slow, and renders website useless at times. Flash out performs HTML 5 in the simplest ways and uses about half as much processor when doing so.

A great example of this would be if you are to go to Apples website, on your iPhone. You will notice effects they have like fade in and fade out are lagging, and seem to lack any smooth functionality. This is because Apple has removed any use of Flash throughout their website. So a lot of you may be wondering what the use of HTML 5 may be.

HTML 5 truly is a useful technology. Although running it as a form of interactivity may look like Flash from 7-8 years ago it is still in BETA. While HTML 5 might not be your best bet for users compared to flash, HTML 5 is a great tool for SEO. A common mistake that web developers make is lacking in the search engine optimization qualities. Often times SEO‘s don’t know much about web design, and web designers don’t know much about SEO.

HTML 5 is a great new technology that will help break that medium. When it comes to Flash, often times search engines have a hard time indexing exactly what is going on. HTML 5 is the best way to do this without doing extensive site mapping. Therefore HTML 5 will be a great tool to help your SEO while keeping your site’s design high quality. Failing to recognize this may not affect your website’s design, but it can definitely affect how high you are being ranked in the search engines. For all intensive purposes that is just as important as your design.

So then who is going to win? Here and now there is no clear cut winner. I would say that it is a dead heat, and the battle has just begun. As long as Flash outperforms HTML 5 through web interactivity, Flash will continue to stay around. As long as HTML 5 serves an SEO purpose, then you can be sure websites will be using accordingly to outrank their competition. So for right now you have to assume that you will use both. Now a lot of people get confused by this. How an why would you use both. Let’s start with why. One reason why you might use both is to cater to the immense amount of Apple product users who will never be able to see Flash on your website. That is a big problem of one that may cause viewers not to visit, and not to invest in your website, whether that is time, money, or interaction.

You need to write HTML 5 for indexing purposes or mobile users, and use Flash in all other circumstances. This may seem like a lot of work, but this work can pay off. If you are to simply browse around on a iPad, you will see that many websites are failing to do this. They are missing out on a wide market of mobile users, and have a harder time being seen by the search engines.

Browser detection is key here. You can be a dominate website in your niche if you supply a healthy website. Using both technologies can be a very powerful way for your website to reach many different users.

Between HTML 5 and Flash there is definitely some fierce competition. Flash still dominates with user interactivity, and HTML 5 is still the best tool for SEO. Right now there is not clear cut winner, so using both is essential. Using both will help you to reach a higher number of web surfers and have the best site possible.

Google isn’t pushing HTML 5 for nothing. They want to see that in your website in the near future for proper indexing. One day we may see a winner, but for now, we will just have to wait.

This article was written by Ben Anderson. Ben works to provide many different White Label SEO tactics, including link building services.