DAT202: Research into the HTML5 platform for our educational application

As part of our assignment for the Creative Industries module, we were given a task to produce an educational application for a charity that promotes expeditions. Our client, ETE (Education Through Expeditions), are about to go on an expedition to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee by going to the highest point of the British Commonwealth in the Arctic Circle (source: http://www.etelive.org/content/contentete.numo?id=172). We decided to base our application on this expedition, as it provides an insight into the facts about the expedition, the area and wildlife, to the application's intended target audience: school children.

Because there's no restriction as to what platform we could use to base our application on, I came up with the idea of putting the new HTML5 platform into good use, not only because we already have another module that is teaching us about the platform (specifically <canvas>, the main component of which has been highlighted as a replacement for Flash), but also because we saw it as a perfect opportunity to break away from the confines of using proprietary media, and reinforce our learning of the platform at the same time.

To break down the research I've done on HTML5, here's a SWOT analysis:

Strengths:

• HTML5 is a new platform that introduces new features never seen before in the history of the HTML standard
• HTML5 is platform-independent; it works in browsers that support it, and in fact, a vast majority of browsers in use today already support it
• <canvas> is especially important, because, for rich, dynamic media content, it reduces the need for Flash as many capabilities, such as animation, can be used inside the tag

Weaknesses:

• Not all browsers support the features in HTML5, especially some of the proposed features
• <audio> and <video> does have compatibility issues, due to different browser developers favouring incompatible standards over established standards, although the issues are being eliminated within time as developers are still deciding on a final, agreeable standard
• One aspect that was highlighted was that some schools may have neglected to upgrade their browsers, although with support for IE6 being discontinued and some schools even moving away from Windows, the uptake of HTML5-compatible browsers are increasing

Opportunities:

• HTML5 will eventually replace Flash and other plugins for many purposes that HTML5 replicates, such as rich media
• HTML5 has a lot of potential to mature into a platform that will eventually eliminate issues in a completely open-source environment

Threats:

• Complacency in the industry and schools means that uptake of HTML5 is still slow, and with the aforementioned issues regarding compatibility in <audio> and <video> due to differing standards, Flash still remains dominant
• Until schools start upgrading their systems, market share for HTML5 will still be in a niche