Scribd, the document-sharing website which allows users to upload documents of various formats and embed them into a website or blog, will be scrapping Flash and will convert 200,000 of the most popular documents into HTML5 starting May 6th.
“We are scrapping three years of Flash development and betting the company on HTML5 because we believe HTML5 is a dramatically better reading experience than Flash. Now any document can become a Web page”, Scribd co-founder and chief technology officer Jared Friedman told Erick Schonfeld of social media and tech news site TechCrunch.
According to our source, there are several advantages if and when billions of documents at Scribd will be converted from Flash to HTML5. Among others,
HTML5 is being developed as the next major revision of HTML (HyperText Markup Language). It aims to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in-based rich internet application technologies such as Adobe Flash among others.
What's in it for us?
If you notice, we use Scribd when posting licensure examination results particularly the lists of performance of schools in alphabetical order. The uploaded documents are embedded here, they play on a Flash enabled box which can be viewed in a scrollable window or fullscreen mode.
By the time Scribd goes full blast in converting documents into HTML5, the uploaded lists as we update become full web pages. This means that readers, whether on desktop / laptop computer or those who use the iPad in browsing the documents, will be provided with the best viewing experience possible.
We applaud and support Scribd's decision to go HTML5!
“We are scrapping three years of Flash development and betting the company on HTML5 because we believe HTML5 is a dramatically better reading experience than Flash. Now any document can become a Web page”, Scribd co-founder and chief technology officer Jared Friedman told Erick Schonfeld of social media and tech news site TechCrunch.
According to our source, there are several advantages if and when billions of documents at Scribd will be converted from Flash to HTML5. Among others,
- Documents will simply become very long Web pages.
- A new bookmark feature will help you keep your place in especially long documents.
- Scribd’s documents will be especially iPad friendly. Instead of downloading a book from Apple’s iBooks store or Amazon’s Kindle app, you can see if an electronic version is on Scribd and read it in your browser.
- Pinch and zoom to make the text bigger.
- No download necessary.
- The books and other documents are stored on the Web.
- They can be shared via Facebook and Twitter, or sent to a mobile phone.
HTML5 is being developed as the next major revision of HTML (HyperText Markup Language). It aims to reduce the need for proprietary plug-in-based rich internet application technologies such as Adobe Flash among others.
What's in it for us?
If you notice, we use Scribd when posting licensure examination results particularly the lists of performance of schools in alphabetical order. The uploaded documents are embedded here, they play on a Flash enabled box which can be viewed in a scrollable window or fullscreen mode.
By the time Scribd goes full blast in converting documents into HTML5, the uploaded lists as we update become full web pages. This means that readers, whether on desktop / laptop computer or those who use the iPad in browsing the documents, will be provided with the best viewing experience possible.
We applaud and support Scribd's decision to go HTML5!