10 Flash Things You Can’t Do With HTML5

10 Flash Things You Can’t Do With HTML5

on Oct 28th 2010 with 198 comments

You could almost hear the collective gasp when Apple announced that it was no longer going to be supporting Flash on its upcoming devices. Like a scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, it seemed the bell had tolled for Flash and designers and developers were going to be dragged into the street to await the body wagon.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The reality is that Flash is far from dead..

..and if one listens carefully I think you can hear developers whispering “I feel happy.” So with HTML5 adoption still a way off, what are some things that Flash can do better than HTML5? Come along as we showcase 10 examples from the ActiveDen marketplace demonstrating why Flash is not quite dead.

For a more comprehensive discussion about HTML5 and Flash, head on over to our Roundup post: HTML5, Flash and RIAs: 18 Industry Experts Have Their Say.

1. HTML 5 can’t interact with a webcam.

augmented_reality

Augmented Reality Surprise Cake

With privacy and security concerns at the forefront, it’s unlikely that HTML5 will support webcam interaction any time soon. Augmented Reality Surprise Cake gives a good idea of what can be done with Flash’s webcam integration.

2. HTML5 video cannot be used on a 3D plane.

3d_plane

XML 3D Video Showcase

Along with snakes, HTML5 video cannot be used on a plane. 3D, like joke telling, is better left to the experts. XML 3D Video Showcase shows what you can do with a few images and Flash’s powerful 3D engine.

3. HTML5 cannot record audio from your microphone.

sound_recorder

Sound Recorder

While there may be plans in motion for HTML5 to support audio recording from your microphone, currently the best option is to use Flash. Sound Recorder shows how easy it is to record WAV files from your computer’s microphone.

4. HTML5 cannot do any sort of web conferencing.

web_conferencing

Web Video Conference

Who doesn’t want to see their coworkers’ smiling faces during their next online conference? Since video streaming is not part of HTML5’s core standard, you’ll have to use Flash to make sure your coworkers are not working in their underwear on their head (I’m looking at you Roger!) Web Video Conference is a web-based application that allows you to create multiple rooms for audio and video conferencing.

5. HTML5 cannot add dynamic objects to go over the video, like captions, titles, or navigational items.

sequential_xml

Sequential XML Playlist Video Player

Feel like localizing your next video for a foreign audience? While Safari 5 has recently added the ability to add captions to your HTML5 video, Sequential XML Playlist Video Player shows what can be done with not only captions but also titles and navigational items in Flash.

6. HTML5 cannot record from your webcam.

video_camera

Record Camera To FLV

It may go without saying that since HTML5 can’t interact with your webcam that it also can’t do any recording from your webcam. You’ll have to use Flash and an application like Record Camera To FLV to record all the crazy things your cat does while you’re at work.

7. HTML5 cannot create desktop apps.

desktop_app

Desktop Reader App

I know what you’re thinking “HTML5 is for the web so of course it doesn’t do desktop apps. Duh!” Well let me just say this – you are absolutely correct. And why do you have to be so angry all the time? Desktop Reader App is just one of the many desktop apps that can be put together within Flash.

8. HTML5 can’t handle video with alpha channels.

alpha_channel

fireSmoke

Ahh alpha channels. You have to be one of my favorite types of channels. This fireSmoke file gives you a glimpse at what you can do with animations and alpha channels.

9. HTML5 doesn’t yet support Peer-2-Peer.

peer2peer

Multi User File Sharing System

While P2P is in the HTML5 spec, it hasn’t been turned on in any of the browsers yet. Flash has built in P2P frameworks that help you share all your beautiful files with the world. Multi User File Sharing System is just one of the many P2P apps available.

10. HTML5 Doesn’t do Full Screen Mode.

full_screen

Full Browser Flash Image Viewer with Video Player

Who doesn’t love a full screen? If you want to put your widescreen monitor to its best use, you’ll have to use Flash since HTML5 currently stops browsers from going into full screen mode. .Full Browser Flash Image Viewer with Video Player. shows what can be done when you have the full screen to work with.

Wrapping Up

While none of us are rabid Flash fanbois (except for Lance, maybe), we thought you would like to take a closer look at what’s currently not possible with HTML5. Of course, you could make the case that it’s me who should be dragged out into the street and left for dead. But after all, isn’t that what comment forms are made for? =)

Travis King is KingDog on Photodune
 
Enjoyed this Post?

Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!

By

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Travis King is a freelance web designer and Japan travel blogger. He would also like to give a big 'hello' to whoever actually reads these author bios! :P  

Plus Premium
 
 
← Older Comments
  • Daniel Libanori

    Ten hammer things you can’ t do with a pen.

  • http://d.kiev.ua Vsevolod Kolchinsky

    Damn =) probably author does not know that HTML is Hyper Text Markup Language? And it’s not supposed to do mentioned things =)

    • Splicage

      Yes, but many sites on the web are comparing the two, without showing the limitations of HTML5.

  • jah

    Flash can’t create desktop apps but adobe AIR can. And you can build adobe AIR apps either from flash or HTML…

    And… you failed to mention my favourite one: flash works on all browsers/platforms just the same (less development time). HTML4/5, XHTML1/1.1, CSS1/2/3 and javascript DOESN’T. Yay.

    • mario

      Not anymore. Flash works substandardly on 64-bit plattforms. There are workarounds to keep it running, but until the long delayed 64bit version is finalized, the runtime is fractured by usability and stability problems.

      • Brent

        Actually, it doesn’t work on “all browsers/platforms” as I have yet to see any Flash content on the iPad or iPhone. All *desktop* browsers and platforms? Yes. But not all platforms.

      • Anon

        “Fractured” into 2 pieces, whereas browser capabilities are fractured into a million little pieces.

  • Kila Morton

    The reality is that we would not really find posts like this necessary if Steve Jobs had not made the decision to eliminate Flash completely from the iPad and iPhone. That decision was a hard shot at Adobe that just should have never happened. His rationale, that Flash causes problems, is misguided at best. The truth is that ANYTHING CAN cause problems. Do you know how many times Safari has crashed on me? Plenty! I still use it, however, because I CHOOSE TO! The problem is that Steve took the choice out of the hands of many people. It should be your choice to turn off Flash on your iPhone and YOUR iPad. It should be your choice to view ANY website you want to view on any device that YOU pay your money to purchase! THAT is the issue here. Flash is not perfect, but no device, technology or company is! Who has the right to decide what you use? YOU!! McDonald’s is a fast food place. There are people who would NEVER put one foot inside of a McDonald’s Restaurant. Does that mean that the rest of us should not have the choice to eat there if we want to? The only choice that Steve has given us is to not purchase a product that can’t view Flash. That simply isn’t right!

    I love Apple products AND I love PC products. I develop for both. However, Steve Jobs, in many ways, is like Agent Smith in the Matrix – his way or the highway. I think this is a heavy-handed response. Quite frankly, I’m surprised that this hasn’t turned into an anti-trust case. Once upon a time, Microsoft tried to make users use Internet Explorer if they purchased a PC. I know that Apple doesn’t have the same level of market penetration with the iPad and the iPhone as Microsoft had with the PC, however, millions of people is still pretty substantial. People should have THE CHOICE. Ship the iPhone and iPad with Flash turned off and let people choose to turn it on, but don’t just DECIDE that no one can use it because you don’t think it should be used! That is outrageous.

    In summary, I want to add one more thing. HTML5 is simply not as mature as Flash. It just isn’t. I’m not saying that it won’t be. I’m not saying that it can’t possibly surpass Flash. However, right now, as of this day (November 23, 2010), HTML5 isn’t anywhere close to what Flash is. It can do some things, but it is simply lacking right now. It is my sincere hope that Steve Jobs changes the way Apple deals with Adobe, but if not, I hope that Adobe continues to develop Flash and add to the wonderful feature set that it already has. Everything that is made in Flash isn’t bad and everything that Apple puts out isn’t good. There are good and bad items coming from both companies and neither company should try to stop people from using the other companies products! We ALL have seen where that can lead and how that can stifle competition. If Steve Jobs thinks that other things are better than Flash, then he should work to make those things as fully featured as Flash AND THEN offer people the CHOICE!!!

    Choice is a wonderful thing. Maybe Steve Jobs will realize that at some point. However, even if he doesn’t, lets not argue about HTML 5 and Flash. We can all develop great things with the tools that are available to us – even if some people using iPhones and iPads may not be able to see them (LOL)! Can’t we all just get along?

    • http://michaeljameswilliams.com/ Michael Williams

      Excellent points, Kila.

    • http://chrismckee.co.uk Chris McKee

      Good point well made Kila; its good that HTML5 has such support but the fanboi’ism of apples user base is the reason Jobs (ego maniac) felt he could turn a personal irritation with adobe into a crusade to destroy a useful technology.

    • Paul

      Very well put. Excelent post.

    • http://www.evelt.com/ joel k

      Wow you said it for me too

      I will even say that one day a nice little hack will come for flash to the i Pad and even Steve Jobs will use it.

    • Darrel

      “his way or the highway. I think this is a heavy-handed response”

      It is. It’s also made Apple one of the most successful companies on the planet. Whether we believe iOS should support flash or not is, alas, irrelevant.

  • http://tukmol.com Gino

    mga ulol pala kayo eh.

    Overacting itong article na ito.

  • http://www.jamiemaing.com Jamie Maing

    This is awesome! Finally someone who understands that Flash is NOT going to dissapear because of HTML5. Flash does a lot more than animating and making something look pretty – very few understand this.

    • Anon

      But Flash gained all these capabilities gradually, and so can HTML5. Aruing about what X “can do” as opposed to Y is an ephemeral thing. If those features matter enough to developers, then they’ll come to HTML5 too. The working groups currently have very early drafts going that will bring device support (webcam, microphone, USB devices, whatever) to flash-free web development. As well as AIR-like capabilities for reading and writing to disk, browsing directories, and so on (Those aren’t nearly as far off, given that the File API works right now)

      Now, I say all this as a long time Flash developer. I love how amazingly powerful Flash/AIR has become since version 9 moved to AS3 and added the speedy new AVM. I’m just pointing out that what each happens to support right now doesn’t mean much. This argument is especially irritating when applied to Canvas vs Flash’s vector+bitmap content. Opponents like to say “Flash is slow, HA!” but why would canvas be any faster at the same tasks? If Flash is slow at anything it’s because it’s a hard problem to solve. Rendering vector content chews CPU…that’s not going to magically change if you move to canvas. With a few exceptions like Biolab/ImpactJS, Canvas is mostly a collection of dinky demoscene style crap right now, and not a lot of real world content that pushes the boundaries. If you actually challenged Canvas to recreate the millions and millions of pieces of content available with Flash – animations, games, etc – rather than dinky proofs of concept, you’d find that HTML5 ain’t so pretty either.

      • Grant Buchan

        “But Flash gained all these capabilities gradually, and so can HTML5″

        Can it? HTML is not a scripting language – it does not have a language built into it, whereas Flash (Actionscript) does.

        You can integrate your php, js or whatever into your HTML5 production, but then how is that standalone HTML?

  • Jason Holland

    Aren’t 1, 4 and 6 the same thing?

    • http://michaeljameswilliams.com/ Michael Williams

      No.

    • http://www.twitter.com/untereinerL Laurent

      You’re right it’s in the same scope/area…

    • http://milki.erphesfurt.de/ mario

      Webcam, webcam, webcam.
      Well if it’s seemingly THAT important, why not make it three points??

      But anyway, is not off the table yet, WHATWG and Apple are indeed making webcams available to web apps.

      • http://milki.erphesfurt.de/ mario

        <device>

  • http://www.sushifox.co.uk Craig @ Sushifox

    Surely the reason behind the enthusiasm for HTML5 over Flash is because HTML5 does the everyday, universally useful stuff that people would otherwise have to resort to Flash to use? Pointing out corner cases and niche applications and “features” doesn’t do anything to prove that Flash is more ROBUST than HTML5, which is the entire selling point for most web developers.

    Not sure what the purpose of this article is.

    • http://zubeir.co.za Z

      My sentiments exactly….

    • Tomas

      Would you say that HTML5 is robust at the moment with it’s cross browser problems and slow performance?

    • Anon

      It is, though. Right now it is way more robust than HTML5. The underlying features that are available in Flash – fast bitmap blitting, scaling, and rotation, sockets, local data storage, etc – make for all the impressive Flash games and applications you see on the web. HTML5 is trying to catch up by implementing its own version of these features, which allows for building all kinds of content…far from “niche” content (Canvas for fast manipulatable 2D graphics, WebSockets, 3 different local storage standards (ugh), FileReader, etc)

      You don’t need ANY of the stuff in HTML5 for “everyday” use. You can put text on a page and make it look pretty with HTML4 and CSS 2.1

    • andyvanee

      A lot of these points are invalid if developers use a bit of imagination. Just because they’re not explicitly spec’d doesn’t mean they’re not possible. Video overlays? Just add a transparent canvas element. Desktop Apps? Nearly every development environment offers some sort of WebView element.

      It seems like a lot of Flash fanboys miss the bigger picture: the web is built on HTML. HTML5 is simply a progressive enhancement of the platform that is currently running the web (gmail, wordpress, drupal, twitter, facebook, …).

    • Darrel

      “Not sure what the purpose of this article is.”

      Like everything on this site…it’s to create a ‘top 10 list I can post to twitter’ to drive people to leave comments like this to up page views to increase ad revenue.

      Accuracy or validity or even applicability has little to nothing to do with the creation of these articles.

      Yet, I, like everyone else, has fallen for it to. More power to them, I suppose.

  • Marcos Zanona

    There’s one more point of things you can do with Flash but not with HTML5
    • rely your developments on a company that only worries about making money. At least html5 js and ccs3 are all community based and in fact there are certain limitations that doesn’t matter for the most of projects being created currently on the web, but it will certainly be covered very soon.

  • Iain van der Wiel

    There are numerous wrong statements in this post:

    2.) HTML5 video *can* be transformed on a 3d pane by using canvas:
    http://www.craftymind.com/factory/html5video/CanvasVideo3D.html

    5.) The HTML5 video element is still a working draft, though it will support captions and subtitles in the complete spec through the track element.
    http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#the-track-element

    7.) Wasn’t HTML5 designed to support “local” apps as well, by using local storage etc?

    8.) HTML5 video can be mapped with alpha transparency by using the canvas element again.
    http://jakearchibald.com/scratch/alphavid/

    9.) It’s not fair to compare a fully featured plugin with an HTML5 spec that’s still a draft. Therefore your argument is invalid, because it will support it eventually. Though i do agree that it’s currently not available.

    While this post does have a number of valid arguments, you can’t compare a draft spec with a plugin that has been on the market for over 10 years. I still believe in the future of HTML5 and that Flash will slowly give some of it’s market share away to HTML5 for a number of things, like displaying video.

    • Abulafio

      You are absolutely right.
      Flash is 14 years old, HTML5 is still a draft. We’ll see in 1 year or two.
      Of course there are some things you can’t do with flash, but for the 90% of applications (video and adv banner) we can live (better) without Flash.

    • Tomas

      Your examples are quite bad in reality. And when HTML5 takes some years to be good, you will see Flash taking the web to the next level.

      • Darrel

        Please refute the comments with data, Tomas. Iain’s comments are cited and explained. Your ‘quite bad’ comment isn’t carrying much weight. You seem to be taking this as a flash vs. html5 issue when I believe many of us are making this a ‘accurate article vs. really inaccurate article’ issue.

    • http://about.me/khurt Khürt

      I think the only point about the Flash vs HTML5 debate is this: Flash is a proprietary technolgy plug-in whose development is controlled by one company. HTML5 is an evolution of an open standard technology controlled by no single entitiy. No plug-ins necessary. HTML5 is the Web. Flash is NOT!

  • Jeph

    This is ridiculous. Fullscreen? That is a browser thing. Desktop Apps? That is possible with HTML5 with Adobe Air/Mozilla Prism or just using Chrome. Flash by itself can’t be a desktop app (no desktop notifications, system tray, …).

  • Jeroen Ransijn

    Lets state this is a good addition tot the HTML5/Flash debate that is going on all around the web.
    Most of your points have good argumentation, though I would like to add something:

    Flash on its own is almost never used alone. It is almost always used within a website — HTML.

    just my thoughts!

  • http://fatpaint.com Mario

    I just spent 5 years programming the web’s best graphic design and painting Flash app, check it out at:

    http://fatpaint.com

    Just another example why Flash is very far from dead…

  • http://nathansweet.me Nathan Sweet

    Let’s also talk about how HTML 5 doesn’t do things Flash does by virtue of its platform. Many people would think it an unfair comparison to say that you only have to worry about one codec if you decide to do Audio/Visual stuff with Flash instead of HTML 5, because it is obvious this is the case, since Flash is an extra-browser platform (that is the Flash platform runs the same no matter what browser your running, for the most part). The browsers couldn’t get their act together to agree on an audio or video codec to implement universally, but Flash is stand alone and does by virtue of the programmer’s choice. If I’m creating a streaming service I’m not even going to want to look at HTML 5 since I’m going to have use some form of browser detection to determine what sort of codec format to send the client… what a nightmare!

    Why on earth as a web developer would I want to bother HTML 5 when it makes me do extra work for no apparent gain? A/V again: no digital rights management in HTML 5. Some corporate client is really going to want HTML 5 where their content can get ripped. I think not.

    Flash does color correction as well for photos, that why most photography websites are in Flash.

    Let’s also talk about how flash does binary socket manipulation where websocket does not. Don’t even get me started on how lame websocket is. I’ve had to work with it substantially over the past few months and I’m convinced its good-for-nothing, other than making AJAXian stuff faster. Websocket sucks mostly for its server side requirements, instead of requiring a simple XML document in the root to validate cross domain socket manipulation (like Flash does), you actually have to send specific headers to the client that validate some simple cryptological key (WTF!). When you have access to make the server do something, like send a custom header, is exactly when you don’t need to manipulate the socket (regular plain jane server), and when you can’t do it is exactly when you do need it (Shoutcast server, or some other media server whose byte data you’d love to get a hold of in the socket). Not to add that whatever javascript’s capabilities are with byte-data, AS3 can do it better and faster (I see no Vector class in Javascript).

    I guess why my tone is frustrated is because I would love it if the open source solution were better and faster, but it isn’t. I wish I didn’t have to use Flash, but I do. I think this is the nature of the problem between Flash and WHATWG solutions. Flash will always be a step ahead of any open source project, specifically because it isn’t open source. Flash will always be able to add advanced features that are just getting documented for open source projects, precisely because they don’t need to build consensus, because Adobe can do whatever it wants as its own company. Flash will always be better than HTML, CSS, and Javascript, precisely because it isn’t those things. As soon as HTML 5 can do all the things that this article says it can’t do, Flash will already have another 10 things added to its list that it will be able to do. How people don’t see this fact is kind of beyond me.

  • Michael Krog

    > I just spent 5 years programming the web’s best graphic design and painting Flash app, check it out at:
    —————————————

    The fact that you spent 5 years developing it may not give the positive point of view you were aiming at. :)

  • Darrel

    I’m not going to comment on the Flash vs. HTML 5 aspects of this article.

    What I am going to comment on is the extremely bad fact checking of this article. It’s not an accurate article. It’s simply crappy twitter ‘top 10 ransom made up facts’ spam fodder.

  • http://michaeljameswilliams.com/ Michael Williams

    Okay! I think that’s enough. Thanks for all the comments, criticism, discussion, and feedback, everyone. Here is my response (though note it is my personal response and does not necessarily represent the views of Envato):

    “The post is technically incorrect on a number of points”

    Yup. We screwed up. I hate to admit that, and I’m pretty embarrassed, but it happened. We should’ve double-checked, and we didn’t, and… well, lesson learned. I can’t promise we’ll never make another mistake ever again, but we’ll certainly be checking our facts more closely.

    “This post is just linkbait! You wrote a list of hyperbole and lies just to get traffic, admit it.”

    Nope. Our first aim with this post was to help ActiveDen authors who want to keep developing things that HTML5 can’t manage, by showing them where Flash differs, and what it’s better suited for.

    Our second aim was to cheer up Flash developers in the face of all the anti-Flash press that was going around at the time. At the time we organised the post, Apple still wasn’t allowing Flash-built apps on the App Store, the Adobe MAX puppets and sneaks hadn’t shown us how HTML5 and Flash really get along, and (if I remember correctly) Flash Player 10.1 wasn’t out on Android devices worldwide.

    Of course we wanted people to share the post. We want people to share ALL of our posts — that’s why we pay top developers, designers, and educators to write them. But sharing is never the overall goal; believe me, it does not do us any favours to have this article spread around the Internet. Like I said above, we just screwed up. We didn’t have a meeting where we decided to start producing lower-quality content in the hope that it would bring us more clicks, don’t worry.

    “Items 1, 4, and 6 are the same!”

    No, they’re not. They have the same underlying technical reason, sure, but they are still three separate applications that a tool without webcam access cannot support: augmented reality, video conferencing, and video recording. If a new smartphone was released without a camera, it’d be fair to count “can’t take photos”, “can’t take videos”, and “can’t do augmented reality” as three separate drawbacks.

    * * *

    I am closing the comments on this post because most new ones are making the same points as those from a month ago, and I don’t think it’s adding much value.

    However, if you’d like to continue debating the relative merits of Flash and HTML5 (and I hope you do), please join the more comprehensive discussion over at our follow-up post, HTML5 and Flash: 18 Industry Experts Have Their Say.

    Cheers,

    -Michael (tech. ed.)

← Older Comments