How Can You Convert Flash Into HTML5, And Why You Should Do It Soon?

What are Flash and Html5?

Flash is a multimedia software platform developed by Adobe to produce desktop applications, animations, ads, eLearning courses, and mobile games & applications. Flash files can be viewed in the browser using a Flash player. Some third-party apps also support viewing Flash files. Mobile apps are often viewed using third party players.

When Flash was introduced almost 20 years ago, it allowed developers to work with a multimedia platform that uses ActionScript to offer faster graphics and the ability to manipulate vector images. Flash also provided developers the freedom to create interactive websites, animations, and Rich Internet Applications.

But, Flash had its fair share of problems like battery drains, security issues, incompatibility with iOS, etc.

So, developers started looking for a better option, and HTML proved to be the perfect match. HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It was conceived in the late 1980s and is used to build websites. Web browsers render content using instructions from the HTML code. Along with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript, HTML has been a cornerstone of World Wide Web technology. The World Wide Web Consortium maintains the standards for both HTML and CSS.

A collaboration between the World Wide Web Consortium and the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group created HTML 5. Designed to reduce the reliance on external plugins, HTML5 improves error handling and use more markups instead of scripting.

Advantages of HTML5 over Flash

Your courses will continue to work:

The most significant advantage is that your eLearning courses will continue to work.  Since Adobe has announced that Flash support will end in 2020, it is high time to convert Flash into HTML courses if you haven’t already.

Cross-device compatibility:

Flash-based courses were incompatible with mobile devices. Flash was also notorious for not letting Apple devices access videos. So in 2010, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced that Apple devices wouldn’t support Flash anymore. Other technology giants like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla followed suit. A Google study revealed that 57% of its users switch between various devices. In such an environment, a course which is incompatible with mobile devices is entirely useless.

Proprietary versus open-source

Adobe’s software was completely proprietary. However, HTML5 is open-source. Course developers do not have to depend on third-party plugins to develop their software and animations. In addition to that, learners do not need to download any additional external plugins every time they access the course. HTML5 allows the scale vector graphics and canvas elements along-with audio and video to be directly embedded in the eLearning course. This eliminates the need for an external plugin.

This is where HTML5 came as a blessing. HTML5 based courses used an open-source mark-up language that enabled the learners to run the course without being forced to download any additional plugins. This substantially reduced the chance of attacks when using the courses. Also, HTML5 updates were delivered using web browsers. So, they are rendered faster and were much easier to install.

Mobile compatibility:

Flash was designed exclusively for PCs and not meant for mobile devices with a touch interface. It wasn’t compatible with mobile devices, and that was one of its significant flaws. But HTML5 is fully compatible with almost all of the devices available in the market today. It can adapt its interface to any display size. That gives it a distinct advantage over Flash courses.

Huge market potential:

According to the data available on Statistica, eLearning learning is estimated to be a $370 billion global industry by 2026. If you are still using Flash-based courses, you are lagging way behind. For example, take videos, for instance. Video classes are a significant part of any eLearning program. A decoder called H.264 is used in almost all mobile chips to enable video playback. Most of the technology giants like Netflix, Google, and Apple use this decoder.

Power saving and better user experience:

Even though Flash also started supporting H.264 videos, most Flash websites still use an older generation decoder that runs using software rather than hardware. The problem was that running the decoder using software drains too much power in a short amount of time. It also takes longer to process, hampering smooth learning.

Opportunity to update courses:

You can also improve outdated content and graphics, change lengthy topics into microlearning courses, and make them more translation friendly. Hence transitioning to HTML5 is advantageous to you as well as your learners.

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7 Steps To Start Converting Your Content From Flash To HTML5

Content Relevance:

The first step is evaluating your content to see whether it is still relevant. If it has become dated, you should consider retiring the course or considering upgrading the content to make it relevant to the current context. If it is still relevant, go forward with the conversion.

Salvage Content or Build Ground-up:

Next step would be deciding if you want to convert the current entire course or content into HTML, or you would like to use only some portion of the course when transitioning to HTML5.

Check Availability Of The Source Files:

Make sure that the flash source files, if you wish to transition the entire course from Flash to HTML5. Remember, you can only convert Flash into HTML if you have access to the source files. Otherwise, you may have to rebuild the course from scratch.

Create A Cross-Reference List:

Create a cross-reference list to track the conversion process. It will come in handy.

Choosing The Right Rapid Authoring Tool:

Based on the license available to your organization, choose the Rapid Authoring Tool that suits your requirements for the creation of eLearning course. Some of the preferred Raid Authoring tools are Articulate Storyline 360, Adobe Captivate, Lectora, iSpring, etc.

Extracting Content If You Don’t Have The Source File:

If you don’t have the source file, you will have to capture various screens from the flash output file and then extract the content from those screenshots using One Note functionality. And then use the extracted content in the Rapid Authoring Tool.

Voice Over Inclusion:

Voice-over can be extracted from the Flash source file, else, the voice over will have to be re-recorded.

Converting courses from Flash to HTML5 is a very tedious process, and we recommend that you use the professional services for this conversion. Learning Everest specializes in converting your outdated Flash into HTML5 courses. We have a dedicated team of specialists that convert Flash to HTML5 courses. We have converted these courses in various languages and are high on interactivity and are adaptable or responsive based on the client’s requirements. Schedule your meeting today to know how we can help you.