HTML5 is rarely out of the technology press these days. Only last week, Microsoft joined the growing list of companies announcing they would be dropping Flash in favour of HTML5 on their forthcoming Windows 8 tablet IE browser (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14949869). Apple do not allow Flash to run on iPads and iPhones and both companies site the same reasons. Flash is a proprietary technology built in the pre-tablet and pre-mobile device era. Security, performance, battery requirements and unreliability issues make it inherently unsuited to these devices.
Alex Mackman, Technical Director, CM Group
Being unable to reliably and consistently deploy Flash solutions to mobile devices is arguably the single biggest reason why mobile learning (mLearning) has failed to deliver on its early promise. mLearning has undoubted benefits in enabling users to consume content when and where they want, but the technical complexities, lack of a level playing field and resultant cost has proved prohibitive.
HTML5 is the latest and rapidly emerging version of the ubiquitous HTML open Web standard and it can overcome these disadvantages. For the first time we have a technology that will enable companies to develop eLearning content once and deploy it anywhere. Wide spread adoption of the standard is continuing at pace. HTML5 (together with CSS and Javascript) lifts the restrictions of earlier HTML standards by natively supporting advanced graphics, video, typography, animations and many other interactive effects i.e. the very set of capabilities required by eLearning.
Why should we care about different device types and what’s wrong with the good old PC? Well there’s nothing wrong with it, but the world is moving on – and eLearning needs to keep pace. In some quarters, eLearning has developed a rather negative reputation and is viewed as being restrictive, formulaic and unimaginative. Of course, a lot depends on the quality of the eLearning content itself, but requiring staff to sit at an office PC to consume the latest eLearning training doesn’t help with this negative perception. Why should we be constrained when it comes to consuming learning content? We can consume videos, news feeds, blogs, eBooks, Web sites and pretty much any other type of content when, where and how we want to. So why should eLearning be different?
The short answer is that it shouldn’t be! Companies should be able to rapidly deliver eLearning nuggets, modules and courses to the users that need it, when they need it – and the underlying tools and technology should help and not hinder this process.
At CM Group, we still produce eLearning using older technologies such as Flash, but we are seeing a rapidly increasing interest in HTML5 largely driven by the desire to support training on iPhone and iPads. The iPad tablet in particular offers a superb form factor for consuming content and tablet market share continues to grow at an astonishing rate. With the emergence of Windows 8 tablet devices sometime towards the end of 2012 this trend is set to continue and to accelerate.
We’ve now integrated HTML5 support into our rapid authoring tool Luminosity Studio, and are about to release a brand new software simulation authoring tool called Luminosity Lightshow which outputs application training simulations in HTML5.
By integrating HTML5 into our eLearning toolset, we are able to develop once and deliver to all platforms. We can also help customers protect their eLearning toolset investments and help customers develop a coherent mobile eLearning strategy – using one toolset and one technological approach.
All this means you can afford more eLearning, it’s easier and quicker to develop, and you can deliver to all devices and reach your training audience anywhere. HTML5-based solutions are also an obvious choice to help future-proof your investment in eLearning. This is true whether you use one of the latest generation of rapid authoring products like Luminosity or whether you outsource your eLearning development to a supplier.
More Information
- For more information about Lightshow, see www.cm-luminosity.com/lightshow.
- For more information about Luminosity Studio, see www.cm-luminosity.com/studio.