An HTML5/CSS3 Checklist; A wakeup call; A rambling

Here's a nicely designed support list for css3 and html5. Want to make an application with Canvas? Guess what, no IE users will be able to use it until IE9. So Flash does seem to be quite relevant to the consumer at this time: http://www.findmebyip.com/litmus

Then again, from what I've seen from the browsers that do have a wide array of support for HTML5 (namely, Webkit-based Safari and Chrome, Firefox), Flash as a platform is very much in trouble. The Flash IDE is still a great tool for design and content creation, but in my opinion Adobe is way behind the times with the CS5 release. Developing a game using the engine below would obviously be a lot more work than creating a game using an IDE, but you can see the potential if a company (maybe a certain fruit-based company, maybe Adobe finally releases a version of their software where all the feature additions aren't design-based?) were to make a new IDE that made it easy to create HTML/Canvas-based content: http://www.kesiev.com/akihabara/

Perhaps designers don't have much to worry about, but from a developer's perpective, this looks like something I want to learn ASAP to stay relevant. I love the Flash platform; I love Actionscript; and I'll continue to develop for and support the platform. However, it is impossible to deny forward progress and growth in technology, especially when said platform's creators aren't moving at the speed that the market demands. AIR2 and Android look like a match-made-in-heaven, but they should be available now, not as a coming-soon afterthought after the big iPhone packager push failed. I just worry that Adobe won't be able to catch up.

Anyway, the market isn't demanding Flash; they are demanding devices. I will write code with Objective-C for iPhones and Actionscript for Android. I've made my peace with Apple's Terms and Conditions. It is what it is; a business decision. I refuse to allow personal ideology to effect my options for career development. Apple'll take my money when I want to make money with their system and Adobe'll take my money when I am locked-in to developing with their tools (please don't tell me to get Gimp instead of Photoshop ;)). It's all the same to this guy.

April 22nd, 2010 | Permalink