Keep your fingers crossed, as the much-publicized clash between HTML5 and Flash is supposed to take place at any point of time. However, have you have thought why they need to fight it out? Do they really need to lock their horns to secure their place in changing topography of website design industry? Contrary to the popular belief and much to the disappointment of some over enthusiasts, we would like to say that HTML5 is not going to oust or outclass Flash. And here are the reasons why they should not be at loggerhead this time around:

HTML5
With the introduction of HTML5, the entire web design industry is perching precariously on the verge of a major upheaval. HTML5 is likely to become a game changer in website design industry by unleashing the power of its innumerable advantages. If it continues to grow at this rate, some of the widely known and popular Rich Internet Application (RIA) technologies might run the risk of becoming obsolete. It is posing serious threat to Sun JavaFX, Microsoft Silverlight and even to Adobe Flash etc.

HTML5 and Its Promises:
HTML5 promises to provide a slew of features that most of us have not experienced before. It will allow users to draw on a webpage and to do some other cool things that were far-fetched concepts just a few months ago. Websites developed in HTML5 will be more featured rich, interactive and users-friendly. It will act more or less like a local storage or Canvass and therefore, visitors will experience an engaging experience.

Here are some of unique features of HTML5:

• HTML5 will make browsing experience a bit more interesting and engaging. It is going to blur the difference between desktop apps and online apps.
• HTML5 is going to offer similar level of functionalities that are usually offered by Adobe Flash, Silverlight etc. It also poses a threat to JavaFX.
• HTML5 will make a website compatible with different browsers and platforms and that means there will be no need to develop different versions of a website for different platform. This is certainly a remarkable advancement.

But despite these amazing advantages, the impacts of HTML5 are less likely to be felt outside the web industry. There is no iota of doubt that HTML5 will rule web industry but the clash between HTML5 and Flash is less likely to occur, since Flash is slowly and imperceptibly making its foray into corporate sector.

Flash’s Place
What is all the more interesting about Flash is that its popularity is getting increased in corporate world, more particularly, in training, learning and rich media application. Furthermore, usage of flash is getting increased in different mobile platforms as it is offering developers a chance to add more features in it and to make browsing in mobile a different experience altogether.

Integration of ActionScripts 3 has brought incredible improvements in the overall functionality and structure of an application that are unlikely to be found in any other applications. Flash offers a higher level of consistency and compatibility across different platforms that are even rare with HTML5.

Use of flash has largely been limited in the field of web industry. But when it comes to mobile platform, Flash is outsmarting its competitors by punching above its weights.

As long as HTML5 and Flash are trying to reinforce their positions in their respective fields, there will be fewer chances of getting into trouble or into a fight.

The introduction of the Flash technology has enabled the web designers to make the website design more attractive and interactive by adding Flash graphics, Flash intros, Flash banner ads, animated videos etc. Flash technology has gained immense popularity in the past few years. Compared to the simple HTML based sites, the Flash enabled sites have more visual appeal to the online visitors.

The Flash technology was introduced by 1996 and in the following years, a number of modifications were adapted to it. Flash indexing algorithm is a significant positive step in web technology. This has enabled the search engine robots to crawl the Flash enabled web pages which was initially not possible.

The introduction of Flash technology has enabled the flash web designers to transform the HTML sites to more attractive and sophisticated ones. Audio presentations, 3D animations and videos are embedded in websites to enhance the visual appeal. It is a good idea to improve the look of your dull and simple websites by adding the flash enabled features. Use of Flash in web designs also improves the user interface of the sites.

A Flash enabled site may take comparatively more time to load than a simple HTML site. But this can be overcome if the application of Flash technology is done tactfully. Systematic use of Flash technology will enable the sites to be attractive for the viewers. A Flash intro is actually a great idea to present the corporate message of your company instead of presenting it through dull and monotonous content on static web pages.

To avoid slow loading of a Flash website, the file memory of Flash graphics, banners, intros etc could be reduced before embedding them to the site. Use of small images are preferable for Flash web designs. This will retain the visual appeal to your sites and at the same time a viewer will not have to wait for a long time for the web pages to load.

About Webguru India and Flash Web Design Service

Webguru India – a web design service provider in India offers Flash website designs of global standards. The service is provided to our global clients at competitive rates. Visit our Flash web design portfolio to get an idea about our work efficiency and the creativity of our website designers. We deliver our projects within stipulated date and we maintain high quality of our work. You too can give your existing or new web sites a classy and elegant look by using this technology. Just give us a call or request further information about Flash website designs from us.

Flash provides the power to create sophisticated custom graphics, that too, within a short period. Apart from creating graphics in Flash with the help of the tools, graphics can also be imported from other files. First, it is necessary to understand two different types of graphics, viz. Vector or Object-oriented graphics and Raster or Bitmap graphics.

Vector Graphics/Object-oriented Graphics

Vector graphics are made up of lines and curves that are defined by mathematical objects called Vectors. Vectors describe an image according to its geometric characteristics.

Vector graphics are the best choice for representing bold graphics, like, logos. There are two main advantages of vector graphics- firstly, the file size remains small and secondly, they are resolution-independent, i.e. they can be scaled to any size and resolution without losing any detail or clarity.

All the graphics created in Flash are vector based. Despite all its advantages, vector graphics appear a bit unrealistic on the computer screen.

Raster/Bitmap Graphics

Bitmap graphics are somewhat different from the vector graphics. Bitmap graphics contain a set of bits in the computer memory, which defines the color and intensity of each pixel in an image. The pixels are displayed as a matrix of dots. If an image is 100 pixels by 100 pixels, then the computer stores the color value of each of the 10,000 pixels. Therefore, the file sizes are relatively larger.

Unlike vector graphics, bitmap graphics are not resolution-independent. They cannot be scaled to any desired dimension. If done so, the image gets distorted. This phenomenon is referred to as Pixelization. However, bitmap graphics instantly appear on the computer screen and look much more real if their resolution is not scaled.

Following are a few good tutorial sites available on the web -

http://www.flashkit.com/

http://www.flashlite.net/

http://www.ultrashock.com/

http://www.virtual-fx.net/

http://www.were-here.com/

Applying Solid Colors and Gradient Fills

Using the Color Mixer, solid colors and gradient fills can be created and edited. The modifications made in the Color Mixer are automatically applied to the selected object on the Stage. To create colors using the Color Mixer, either RGB or HSB color modes can be chosen or the color panel can be expanded to use hexadecimal mode.

An Alpha value can be specified in order to define the degree of transparency for a color. Along with the Alpha value, a specific color can also be chosen from the Colors palette.

For displaying a larger color space, the Color Mixer can be expanded. This displays a split color swatch showing the previous and the current color as well as a Brightness control panel that helps to modify the brightness of colors in all the modes.

Importing Raster/Bitmap Graphics

Flash has made easy the methods of importing bitmap graphics from other files. Following are the types of bitmap graphics that can be imported -

• A photograph (scanned and saved).
• A series of still images extracted from the frames of a video.
• Images with special effects (like, clouds, fire, water or other natural effects) that cannot be archived with a vector tool.

Flash mainly supports file formats, like, .jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp or .pct.

Converting a Bitmap to a Vector Graphic

Converting a bitmap to a vector graphic depends on two common situations – firstly, when there is a raster file, which is more suitable as a vector graphic, and secondly, while creating special effects, like a posterized look or an outline effect.

On converting a bitmap to a vector graphic, the latter is no longer linked to the bitmap symbol.

Again, if the imported bitmap graphic consists of complex shapes and several colors, then there arises a possibility of the converted vector graphic to have a large file size. This file size may be larger than the original bitmap file.

However, it is advisable to create graphics in Flash rather than importing them.