Silverlight RIP?

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

The battle royal between HTML5 and the two major plugin runtimes of Silverlight from Microsoft and Flash from Adobe continues to rumble on.

To the intense annoyance of both firms, it appears Apple is holding sway here with its insistence that neither Silverlight nor Flash will be allowed on the iOS platform used in the iPhone and iPad. And that, in its opinion, HTML5 is the future.

Well, there is no doubt that HTML5 is the future, in that the current HTML5 implementation leaves much to be desired and it will take time and work for this to be fleshed out. But Apple says no, use native code on iOS or use HTML5. (more…)

Adobe MAX 2010: HTML5 and Flash

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Just how committed is Adobe to HTML5?

It’s a serious concern. Adobe is not only the developer of the main professional HTML authoring tool, Dreamweaver, but also of the Flash platform which promises to take the browser beyond HTML into richer, more powerful territory. Clearly there’s a possible conflict of interest here – a point I made at the launch of the latest CS5 suites when the page-oriented Web Standard suite was dropped in a blatant attempt to push designers towards the Flash-centred Web Professional suite.

Unfairly promoting Flash is one danger, but far worse is the possibility that Adobe would want to hold HTML5 back. This suspicion dawned with the limited HTML5 capabilities in Dreamweaver CS5 and was reinforced by Steve Jobs’ attack on Flash which ended: “New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.”

There’s a real danger here that HTML5 and Flash could be driven into opposing camps in the war between Apple and Adobe, and you really don’t want to bet against HTML. Based on the latest Adobe MAX 2010, it looks like Adobe is well aware of the potential trap and has acted accordingly.

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Reader X: Adobe gets it right at last

Monday, October 18th, 2010

With the launch earlier today of its new Acrobat X platform, Adobe is naturally keen to highlight the strengths of its Acrobat authoring applications. With new capabilities such as action-based automation and enhanced portfolio handling, the new Acrobat X Pro (see full review) is certainly a decent upgrade.

By contrast, the new Acrobat X Standard (see full review) offers comparatively little. As many programs now offer their own in-built PDF authoring capabilities, and third-party alternatives such as Nitro and the more powerful Nuance offer similar office-focused PDF-based power (including OCR-based archiving and rich Word export), the one thing that Acrobat X Standard is crying out for, and that Adobe has again failed to deliver, is a major price cut.

Overall however I’d still call the new Acrobat X platform a major release, thanks primarily to the changes made to the free Reader X program.

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Apple vs Adobe: some surprising statistics

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010

I recently came across a very interesting bit of analysis on the Macworld site. According to a survey by Net Markets based on usage share across 160 million unique visitors spread over 40,000 websites:

“Apple’s iOS mobile operating system is now the third most popular platform on the internet, with a share nearly six times larger than Android’s… more than enough to shove Linux off its perch as the third-place operating system on the web.”

Now that really does sound impressive, especially in the context of some quotes from Vince Vizzaccaro, a Net Applications vice president, regarding overall mobile share and the iOS percentage: “Mobile’s growth curve is strong and mobile is becoming quite a phenomenon on the internet… That’s massive when you think about it… we’re seeing iOS totally dominate the market on the web.”

So just what are these amazing figures?

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The fundamental differences between Flash and HTML (and the real reasons that Steve Jobs wants to kill it)

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Recently I’ve been making the case that Steve Jobs’ refusal to allow Flash near the iPhone, iPod and iPad isn’t an inconsequential squabble but rather a fundamental attack on the very future of web-based design and development.

At first sight, the argument may well look perverse. After all, everyone knows that Flash is a proprietary and binary add-on format for web pages that has led to some appalling design excesses and is increasingly, and rightly, being flushed out of common web page usage (as when Flash rollovers were replaced by CSS). OK the format has currently found a niche delivering video, but really it’s an outdated technology ready to be put out to pasture by the brand-new, open standard, video-enabled, “Flash-killing” HTML5.

In this version of the story, Steve Jobs is simply doing everyone a favour by speeding the take-up of HTML5 and the inevitable purging of Flash from the Web. However underlying Job’s anti-Flash argument and most people’s thinking on the subject is a mistaken assumption (or carefully calculated deception in the case of Jobs). Most people assume that HTML will inevitably evolve to be able to do everything that Flash can; simply make HTML and the browser more powerful and the need for add-ons like Flash evaporates. Why do it in the player with a closed format when you can do it in the browser with open standards?

In fact Flash is a fundamentally different technology to HTML and can do things that HTML can’t and never will.

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Photoshop Extended vs Informatix Piranesi

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

A while back I wrote a piece asking What is the point of Photoshop Extended? The underlying technology is undoubtedly brilliant allowing you to import fully-textured 3D models into your flat images, but the implementation is awkward and intimidating. Beyond adding some extruded text (or should that be “repousséd”?) I doubt whether many users have ever even touched the 3D menu.

This might suggest that I can’t see the point of trying to mix the two worlds of bitmap editing and 3D. That’s absolutely not the case. These days 3D is moving centre stream wherever you look. Moreover the combination of 3D and pixel-based handling can unleash some extraordinary creative power. It’s just that it can be done so much better…

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HTML5: will it kill Flash?

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

It’s been well over 10 years since the last release of HTML so the excitement about HTML5 is understandable, but what should users expect?

Look on Wikipedia and the answer is revealed in the first paragraph in what amounts to a mission statement: “(HTML5) aims to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in-based rich internet application (RIA) technologies such as Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight.” It’s a mission that others have played up, not least Steve Jobs in his recent attack on Flash.

But does HTML5 really pose a serious threat to Flash? (more…)

The benefits of new improved Flash

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

There’s a lot of debate at the moment about the future of the web and it’s clear that in many ways we’re standing at a crossroads. According to Adobe, “the next chapter of the web” is Flash and it is pushing the format hard with its latest Web Premium CS5 suite (arguably too hard).

According to Steve Jobs and Apple however, the web needs to be washed clean of this proprietary plague and the future belongs to HTML 5.

So which is it to be? Flash or vanilla? Adobe or Apple? Player or browser?

Based on the iPhone and iPad’s phenomenal sales, it’s clear that there are plenty of users happy to go with Jobs’ no-Flash option. After all, apart from video, is Flash really that integral to today’s web experience? It seems a very small price to pay for such undeniably brilliant hardware.

However, as the old adverts didn’t quite put it: “before you buy, have you considered the benefits of new improved Flash?”

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Adobe’s plans to rule the mobile world

Friday, May 14th, 2010

Around a year ago, I looked into developing Android applications as a possible outlet for my creative genius. I soon discovered that Android apps are based on Java and my enthusiasm evaporated: I have no desire, or the time, to lose myself in the serpentine bowels of that venerable development system. So I gave up on the idea.

However, Adobe’s plans for world domination are now focused squarely on the smartphone market and, with Android now outstripping the iPhone in the US, perhaps Apple’s allergy to the Flash Player is not going to be such a problem after all.

There are two components that need to be in place: a method of developing applications and a way of delivering them. On PCs, you might develop applications using Flash Professional or Flash Builder (aka Flex) and they would then run within either a browser via Flash Player or on the desktop via the Adobe Air packager. What’s needed is the equivalent of these for the mobile platforms.

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Dreamweaver CS5: back from the dead?

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

A year or so ago I created a mini-storm of controversy with my “I’m sorry but Dreamweaver is dying” blog in which I suggested that Dreamweaver’s dominance is fading and that web designers starting out today would do better getting to grips with a content management systems (CMS).

The post obviously hit home, as I realised when the Adobe evangelist demonstrating Dreamweaver CS5 at the press launch began his talk by referring to it and, when he discovered that I was in the audience, suggested that I might want to “eat crow”.

Well I’m delighted to say that he was right… largely.

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