It was big news when Apple abandoned Flash in favour of the HTML5 format for media encoding, but Adobe is bridging the gap with a drag-and-drop tool for developers to instantly convert Flash Professional (FLA) files into HTML5.The experimental Flash-to-HTML5 tool, known as ‘Wallaby’, is available through the Adobe Labs site and enables Flash developers to build smartphone apps that work on both Flash platforms and HTML5 that Apple products support.
The tool gives developers the incentive to work with Flash while still being able to offer their content to Apple iOS users who make up a sizeable portion of the smartphone (and tablet) market.
For consumers, this could mean less exclusivity of apps and a greater range across mobile operating systems.
HTML5-compatibile videos are on the rise across the web, with 63 percent of all online videos support the format compared to 10 percent a year ago, according to video-sharing website Mefeedia.
While the move by Adobe is a step forward in integrating platforms, it isn’t foolproof. Not all elements from Flash files will translate directly into HTML5, with certain audio and video filters, for instance, being discarded.
The technology is currently being trialled by the Flash community with Adobe seeking comment from users on how to deploy Wallaby more specifically.
