Adobe to Release Flash to HTML5 Converter

According to most Web developers, HTML5 is something worth being excited about, because it’s designed to take the Web to the next level. While many websites today rely on things like Adobe Flash to run robust content, HTML5 is able to replace them when done right. This is especially true where video is concerned, although in the year/s ahead, we should be seeing a lot more games and interfaces as well.

Thanks to the huge promise of HTML5, many have been calling on the death of plugins such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight, among others. In truth, given HTML5’s potential, Flash/Silverlight usage could indeed drop significantly, but if so, that time is a ways off. Still, it’s something Adobe is thinking about, and as a result, it has also committed to the new Web standard, in various ways.

One major way it looks to support HTML5 is by creating a tool that converts its Flash format into the new standard. This means that if a developer of a Flash file converted it to HTML5, then someone who doesn’t have Flash installed could still view it just fine. Though a ways off, this tool could be a godsend to developers, it if works as promised.

It could be suggested that developers should just abandon Flash and code everything in HTML5 going forward, but the major advantage Adobe has right now is huge market penetration, and also robust development tools, which are for the most part leaps and bounds above the competition (where Web animation is concerned, at least). Because of that, it’s very unlikely that professional Flash developers will want to up and leave their comfort zone when an export tool exists.

I’m willing to bet a reliable export tool would be difficult to achieve, though, and at the same time, it’d no doubt be extremely difficult for the export process to deliver a “perfect” HTML5 project. We’ll see though… Adobe does specialize in a lot more than just Flash, so it could happen.

Adobe Flash has taken a beating in the last couple of years. First Apple attacked Flash for poor performance, then open tools like HTML5, CSS 3 and JavaScript began stealing much of its thunder, offering video, audio and animation—traditionally Flash’s strongholds—without the need for the free plug-in. While rumors of Flash’s demise have been greatly exaggerated, there’s no question that, were Flash to remain what it is today, it will eventually be replaced by HTML5 tools.