It was inevitable and something that was just waiting to happen. Adobe has announced that it is moving away from Flash software and is embracing HTML 5 for mobile devices. Industry watchers say that this was a move that was predestined; HTML 5 has emerged as the universal standard for displaying rich media on the World Wide Web, and Adobe was going to realize this fact sooner rather than later.

This is great news for those smartphone and tablet users, especially those using iPhone and iPads who couldn’t view Flash coded media on their devices.

Steve Jobs Proven Right

Back in April, 2011, Steve Jobs didn’t have nice things to say about Flash and said that it wasn’t a great choice for viewing rich content on mobile phones because it was closed, proprietary software and did not offer support for touch based mobile devices. He also said that the time of HTML5 had come and its time developers started to use this language instead of Flash as it was an open standard and allowed media content to be directly embedded, without need for middleware. Many experts dismissed this as rant, but it seems Adobe was taking notice.

HTML 5 for Mobile Devices

Adobe has abandoned developing Flash for mobile devices, and has woken up to the realization that it’s HTML 5 that is way ahead and not Flash when it comes to mobile platforms. All major mobile devices support HTML 5, which means that it has emerged as the definitive choice for the creation and deployment of content across multiple mobile platforms.

Adobe’s shift speaks a lot for HTML 5 as a universal standard for putting rich media content on mobile devices conveniently and efficiently and in a manner that ensures the highest standards or reliability. As more and more users are starting to access the internet through mobile devices, it makes perfect sense for development companies to start developing HTML 5 tools. This is why Adobe’s, move towards using HTML5 development tools such as Adobe Air etc. to build HTML 5 websites and applications for mobile devices isn’t surprising.

Flash Isn’t Dead

Adobe will continue to develop Flash for PC. Its aim is to use Flash for offering PC users advanced gaming experiences and premium video solutions, which also includes 3D graphics.  But, when it comes to mobile devices it’s shifted its attention to HTML 5. It realizes, as many other companies have realized that HTML5 is the future of mobile development and its increasingly getting difficult to justify the use of Flash for developing and deploying mobile compatible content. That’s not just working any more.

So, when it comes to mobile development, its goodbye Flash and Hello HTML 5.

Adobe AIR or the Adobe Integrated Runtime, is a RIA building tool that offers a cross-platform runtime environment. It has brought together Adobe software such as Adobe Flex, Adobe Flash, Ajax and HTML on one common platform.

The core purpose of this runtime environment is to help a developer create engaging content, applications and videos that can be accessed by the widest possible audience. With AIR, developers can build standalone applications that are compatible with diverse devices, as they can run outside the browser environment.

AIR is turning out to be a bonanza for developers because of its features.

Media Measurement

A common complaint of developers was that it was only the Adobe Flash Player that offered integrated support for media measurement. They weren’t able to track how content was distributed and viewed by users, if it was developed using other Adobe environments. But, the new Adobe AIR has taken care of this problem. It directly supports media measurement and that too with very little code. So, the implementation of video analytics pertinent to native and legacy video players can be accomplished quickly and easily.

It’s important to note that this feature is only applicable for desktop applications.

Improved Navigation

Seamless intra-application navigation has also been made possible with AIR. Adobe AIR takes desktop interactivity to a whole new level. Rich Internet Application can now be built that help users navigate between two applications through web links. This has bettered the functional aspects of applications such as eBook readers, magazine viewers amongst various others.

Apps for iOS Have Better Performance

Improved rendering for iOS means that that AIR apps for iOS perform four times faster in the CPU mode. This has helped developers improve the performance of rich internet applications that have been developed for the iOS platform. What many developers have also appreciated is the fact that the improved performance is not only seen in the apps developed in the Flash framework but also in those developed in the Flex Framework.

Faster iOS Application Development Cycle

The new and improved AIR Developer Tool enables the faster development of iOS application. What the tool has done is that it has reduced the time taken to debug an application. This time reduction is a result of streamlining the two most time consuming phases of the application development life cycle – Testing and Debugging.

AIR has enabled developers to build compelling rich internet applications that facilitate a closer connect with customers. Development with the Adobe Integrated Run Time environment is a low risk venture and something that doesn’t take a lot of time.

These days businesses, both big and small, need to have an RIA strategy in place that improves productivity, promotes efficiency, reduces operating costs, and ensures customer satisfaction. The Adobe AIR promises all this and a whole lot more. At the end of the day, each business wants its web investments to offer the very best returns on investment - Adobe AIR helps them derive the maximum value out of their investment.

A new announcement has taken the world of SEO by storm – A new initiative by search engine leaders Google, Yahoo! and Bing to make life a little easier for webmasters who want to add rich snippets markup to their web pages. The difficulty lies in the fact that all search engines ask for data to be configured in a different way.

With the launch of schema.org, search engines offer a common set of schemas for the addition of rich snippet markup to web pages. There is absolutely no doubt about the benefits of Schema.org from the webmaster perspective, but what of the user. Can the user experience and appreciate the benefits of this new development?

The answer is – Yes they can. This can best be explained with an example.

This is an example of a rich snippet. It offers a collection of constructive information about the review of X-Men: First Class.

The benefits of Schema.org for users like you and me can be understood from this rich snippet.

A complete information package

What do you need from a movie review? You want to know if people actually liked it or not. The example gives you a clear picture in terms of the reception that the movie has received, till date. Just one look and you have all the information you need. You don’t even have to read the review. You can take an informed decision just by looking at the snippet.

Structured Information

The information on offer follows a structure. If you look at it closely, it offers you a star rating and it also offers you a percentage. The percentage tells you about the number of people who have liked the movie (figures are pertinent to the site). It also tells readers about the number of reviews available on that particular site. When you look at the snippet, you know what to expect and the amount of information about that particular topic available on the site.

Best Possible Information

The fluff is removed and you get information from the best possible sources. You know you can depend on the information that you are looking at. More importantly, the information is offered keeping in mind the different requirements of a user. So, somebody who is only looking for the ‘stars’ will get what he wants, while somebody else looking for a ‘percentage’ will get what she wants and so on and so forth.

Saves Time

We are an impatient bunch of people when it comes to searching for information on the World Wide Web. We want information that is complete and that too quickly. We want to make an informed decision on as limited information as possible. Search engines offer us just that. A look at the rich snippet and we are done. More importantly, they offer us the kind of information that tells us whether we should access the particular link or not; whether it’s going to be useful for us or not.

All this and a whole lot more is a result of Schema.org. This is just a tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of benefits that we might not even notice and take them as a natural course of events. We might not realize that our ‘search’ lives have benefitted through the collective efforts of the Search Engines and the webmasters.

For businesses, a well-defined and highly efficient web strategy is of paramount importance. But what is equally important is the implementation of that strategy with Rich Internet Applications (RIA) so that the applications are user friendly, and immensely functional. A few years ago, development of RIA was an arduous task, which took a lot of time and effort. And at the end of it all, developers were not sure if the application would do what it was supposed to do.

But Microsoft Silverlight aims to change all that. It offers cross-platform, cross-browser plug-in that helps web application developers create highly efficient Rich Internet Applications.

So why are web developers excited about this plug-in? Here are a few reasons.

• Use of Popular Technologies
  
  Microsoft technologies and platforms are widely used by web developers. The benefit offered by Silverlight is that it uses platforms and technologies such as XML application markup language, .Net technologies amongst various other commonly used Microsoft platforms and technologies. What this means is that developers are already proficient in the technologies used by Silverlight. So, there is no need to learn anything new. No wonder developers are heaving a palpable sigh of relief!
   
• Lingua Franca is Similar to HTML
  
  Designing the user interface with Silverlight is quicker and much simpler. This is because its language - XAML resembles HTML. Developers can use the XAML plain text files to give information to Silverlight telling it how to render the look and feel of a file. So, developers are able to create dynamic XAML to create files with information that can be reused at different stages of rich internet application development, if needed.
   
• Same Development Model for Multiple Browsers
  
  Ask developers about that one web development challenge that takes up a lot of time and effort; most of them will point out to the difficulty faced while achieving cross browser compatibility. For this to happen, they need to develop and implement new codes for each browser and will even have to test this code. This is where Silverlight enters the pictures with a solution. It offers web developers a development model that remains the same for all browsers and OS that it supports. No additional code development or testing is required.
   
• Focuses on both Development and Design
  
  The intense competition amongst websites, and increased user expectations have led to website developers giving due importance to the design and aesthetics of the website. But the problem lies in coordinating the efforts of developers and designers owing to the differences in the tools and platforms used for design and development. Silverlight solves this problem. It offers both design and development tools on one solid platform.

Developers are getting to know Microsoft Silverlight better and better through increased usage. They are discovering many more benefits of Silverlight development platform for creating applications that are supremely engaging and extremely interactive.

Rich internet applications offer tremendous end value to users. Your online presence can reap the benefits of these applications by offering your visitors a user friendly experience when they visit your site.

Getting rid of the limitations

Traditional, or shall we say, the more conventional internet applications were being restricted by the limitations of HTML to provide a more fulfilling experience to end users.  Quite a number of online businesses lost customers because they were not entirely happy with the user interface provided on the website.  This is where rich internet applications come to the rescue. These applications use the enormous potential and usability of the internet to develop easily deployable interfaces that create a memorable user experience.

For compelling user experience

Persuading a visitor to buy products or services on your site is all about persuasion. And you can only persuade them, if you have visually impressive content. Rich internet applications are more appealing as they offer a more interactive user interface. When it comes to a business website speed is also of essence. You need to deliver a message quickly without wasting valuable time. Rich internet applications do that and a whole lot more.

The inherent adaptability of these applications means, they can be customized to meet the specific needs of your business website. Say you don’t want your customers to go through a time consuming process of online transaction. You can simplify it and cut down on the time taken by tailoring an application accordingly.

Rich internet applications have given a whole new meaning to the concept of usability of a website.  To optimize its use, you must have your goals and objectives all planned out. Once that is done, you will be able to optimize the use of rich internet applications for your business website.