HTML 5, Flash or Silverlight?
When starting the implementation of a Web application, there is a choice and now, three technologies are in competition:
- HTML5 with Ajax, or better an Ajax framework with graphic widgets.
- Flash allows to build an interface or animations in vector graphics.
- Silverlight, a multi-language framework dedicated to Web applications.
Which to choose?
Comparison
Point by point, the advantages and disadvantages of each platform.
| HTML 5 | Flash | Silverlight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forms and interface | HTML / All common objects *. Validation. CSS. |
Form objects to build. | XAML controls. Property of look and feel. |
| Graphical surface | HTML canvas tag / JavaScript | All vectorial. | XAML canvas tag / Multi-languages |
| Video | Custom interface. WebM or H264 codec. |
Full screen. WebM and H264 codecs. |
Full screen. WebM and H264 codecs. |
| Offline and persistence | Local variables. SQLite. JavaScript only. |
Big cookies (LSO). SQLite in Air. Flash player. |
OOB (Out of browser) executable application. |
| Compatibility | Recent browser. | Browser or Air. | Browser + .NET |
| Development tool | NetBeans (free) | CS5 (not free) | Expression Blend (not free) |
Conclusion and choice
HTML 5 has the advantage of portability, including smartphones. All modern browsers support it but you would sacrifice users related to an old browser by a corporate network.
Plugins like Google Chrome Frame could however run HTML 5 on such browsers.
Flash is also portable, but the development requires a higher level of expertise. It may be too slow on smartphones.
Silverlight works fully only on Windows. On this platform, you can build more sophisticated applications. But this advantage is lost on the light .NET version on mobile.
See also