iPad Already Changing the Way Web Sites Are Built

[Albert Wiersch]

This is interesting.

iPad Already Changing the Way Web Sites Are Built

Mostly about Flash, but other items as well. Looks like the iPad will push adoption of HTML5 technologies, even though it's not even out yet.

"Lack of Flash in the iPad (and before that, in the iPhone) is a win for accessible, standards-based design. Not because Flash is bad, but because the increasing popularity of devices that don't support Flash is going to force recalcitrant web developers to build the semantic HTML layer first," Zeldman said.

I'm still surprised there is no 64-bit version of Flash for the 64-bit version of Internet Explorer.

[MikeGale]

I agree with the part of their reasoning that says that vendors who don't fix security holes quickly need to be persuaded to change (flash problems ignored by MacroMedia and Adobe for far too long). However I think that X/HTML 5 is not ready.

Hixie (the single guy who is seemingly in control of the standard) seems to have over-reached. He has said that it will be done in 2022. The specification of the video tag is wrong, what else? Last time I checked important bits weren't specified sufficiently to write test pages.

The lack of progress in XHTML design for the last decade is now going to hurt us.

Apple doesn't seem to be helping with a Stalinist approach to "iPhone web pages".

Luckily those who have avoided flash are unaffected.