YouTube: "HTML5 is good, but Flash is still necessary"

John Harding, software engineer of YouTube, recently expressed his admiration for HTML5, saying that the new platform has made great progress. However, Harding was quick to clarify that YouTube does not think to leave the Flash, and Adobe's technology still has advantages over HTML5, which make a difference.



First, Flash is required to embedding, and is currently the only way to port the ads and comments embedded in each video. Moreover, HTML5 has not yet solved all the issues he has with microphones and webcams, while scaling to full screen is not always smooth.



It will not be so easy for YouTube to go completely by the Flash in HTML5. Another big issue is that of video standards. This means that YouTube should also support both the H.264 wanted by Microsoft and Apple, and the WebM Google's an emerging power.

YouTube extends HTML5 to embedded videos

YouTube is currently running tests to further support the technology HTML5. More specifically, the officers of Google are testing a new code to integrate into third pages (embed code), which will use either Flash, or HTML5, as appropriate. So far, the code used to integrate the videos based solely on Flash.



The new system uses iFrames and chooses Flash or HTML5 depending on the device and browser.


The new code would normally play embedded videos on YouTube and even iPhone. For now, only developers have access to the new code, which would normally be incorporated on YouTube sometime in the near future.