Flash vs. CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript

Hello, readers. My last post was about how form validation with JavaScript could change to form validation using HTML5. This post is about what CSS3, HTML5, and JavaScript could all do to Flash, probably the most popular site animation there is.

Flash is used in many websites for everything from advertisements to the entire site structure. Online videogames, for example, use Flash. Pandora uses Flash. The YouTube player uses Flash. The online demo of SitePal uses Flash. So many sites use Flash.

But Flash can sometimes become a hassel. For one thing, you have to download a new version of Flash every now and than. For another thing, Flash can sometimes be slow on browsers. When you use other languages, it becomes a lot easier.

I'll start out by writing some things each language can do that can replace the features of Flash.

JavaScript

• Animation
• Control HTML5 audio to play sounds
• Control CSS(3)
• Video games
• And so on...

HTML5

• Some kinds of animation
• Audio
• The Canvas tag for graphics
• Video games (JavaScript is required)
• And so on...

CSS3

• Animation (probably the best out of these three languages)
• Control the layout and styles of webpages, etc.
• (possibly) Video games (JavaScript is required)
• And so on...

And these are not the only features. I could go on about this. But I won't right now.

However, while these three languages can do what Flash is able to do too, I'm sure many will continue to rely on Flash for graphics and audio for the time being. One reason is the fact that HTML5 and CSS3 are not fully supported in browsers. I wrote an article about the possible years that browsers will come out with full support for HTML5. It's right here.

To learn more about these three languages, there are many tutorial sites, such as W3Schools.com, available.

NOTICE: In August I'll be doing something that will take up my time, so I won't be working on my upcoming video game, "45 Seconds."