A Quick Look at Video in HTML5
As the current HTML5 specification is continually drafted, the support for video compatibility on modern day browsers is ever increasing with the introduction of the < video > tag.
Adobe’s Flash Player is the current favourite being widely used for websites such as YouTube and Vimeo. The introduction of video in HTML5 is intended to become the new standard to show video online, as long there sufficient support by major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome). This will also assist the Apple iPhone/iPod which currently has zero support for Adobe’s Flash player. Recent rollouts of experimental HTML5-based video players from DailyMotion (using Ogg Theora and Vorbis format), YouTube (using the H.264 and WebM formats) and Vimeo (using the H.264 format) suggest that interest in adopting HTML5 video is increasing.
Having said that, once the browser gods come to mutual agreement and support these few formats that are readily available, we’ll be able to enjoy video in HTML5 without the use of 3rd party players/flash! (but hey, we all know from experience that 100% behaviour for these formats across all browers won’t be a walk in the park)
