SublimeVideo, an HTML5-based video player from Switzerland-based development and design firm Jilion now includes a “fall back to Flash mode.” This means that when a web surfer using a browser that doesn’t support HTML5 visits a page that uses the player, it will automatically switch over (aka “fall back”) to Adobe Flash, the plugin-based technology that older, non-HTML5 web browsers use.
Why is this important? In addition to providing a path to move from one technology to the next, a transition that will take years at best, SublimeVideo could ease the workload for developers tasked with creating web pages that the entire web audience can access.
Moving from Flash to HTML5
The problem, as it stands today, is that some web browsers support HTML5 and Flash, while others only support Flash. And yet websites need to be accessible by all, no matter what browser is used.
The Safari browser on the Apple iPad, for example, only supports HTML5, forcing many mainstream media sites to rapidly push out new and separate HTML5-ready versions of their site. The WSJ and NPR were among the first to release iPad-only websites, in advance of the launch of the Apple iPad. Others soon followed, but there are still so few big names doing so that Apple can list them all on their “iPad-Ready Websites” page, which now features 20 name-brands like CNN, Reuters, Time, MLB, flickr, Nike and others.
What SublimeVideo Does
Jilion’s goal is to create a “universal video player” that works in all browsers, regardless of the technology supported. That means that users with the outdated Internet Explorer 6 browser could watch the same videos as those who use more modern browsers like Google Chrome (4.0), Firefox (3.6+), Safari (4.0.4+) or the upcoming Internet Explorer 9.
Regardless of which version of the player was viewed – either the HTML5 version or the Flash one – the same user interface would be presented. This includes on-screen controls to play and pause the video, a button that takes it to full-screen mode and keyboard shortcuts that play, pause, and launch or exit from full-screen.
While the SublimeVideo player is an arguably brilliant technology development, what it lacks – at least in its current form – are the features that many large companies have come to expect from the Flash experience: advertising and analytics. For companies in need of these types of tools, they’ll likely go with an HTML5 video platform provider like Brightcove, who has advertising and analytics on their 2010 roadmap, MeFeedia, Ooyala or the new solution frommDialog.
Those interested in seeing SublimeVideo’s Flash page in action can visit the new demo hosted here.
