YouTube Scraps Flash for HTML5 for All Modern Users
Last week, YouTube has discreetly sent Adobe Flash packing as it switched to HTML5 video experience for all modern browsers. In one swift motion, the new iframe embedding and device detection promises to deliver the most appropriate experience for the user by serving HTML5 video experiences to devices that do not support Flash, which includes all iPhones.
After years of experimenting, Chrome, Internet Explorer 11, Safari 8 and Firefox beta versions will all serve the HTML5 experience which will inherently create a new web- and device-standard that promises to deliver content at lightning speeds and provide users with a more robust experience; functionality that has major implications for e-commerce sites, especially those that utilize video sales letters (VSLs).
Richard Leider, a leading YouTube engineer, did mention that the key in this decision in the switch was HTML5’s implementation of Adaptive Bitrate (ABR). This allows the player to adjust video resolution based on network quality.
But what does this mean for users?
Well, for those utilizing DSL and low bandwidth connections, YouTube will knock down the quality of your video experience so you don’t have to wait for your content to load. YouTube says that this will reduce buffering by 50% globally and by 80% on super congested networks. HTML5 also supports the VP9 codec which allows for a higher quality streaming experience at about 1/3 the bandwidth, reducing the server load on high traffic sites.
With this switch, YouTube has rung in the new year with a new burst of functionality that promise to push the HTML5 standard to new levels. A standard that only seems to be growing in popularity.
Over the years, the front end language has already had many implications towards SEO. For example, HTML5 aids pagination of e-commerce sites through HTML5 sequential linking which will help to eliminate duplicate content issues and reduce sites crawl budget. It helps with pages structure by introducing a new tags that serve to better organize content to be more readable for our beloved googlebot. Notwithstanding, as more and more browsers, sites and API’s become HTML5 compliant the more search engines will be swifter to notice and give favor.
After this major announcement from one of the internet’s biggest players you can be sure that the future of HTML5 is certain. Having major implications for users, e-commerce retailers and internet marketers alike, the future of front end display and functionality proves to be one of more robust experiences, more organized coding, and more appropriate content delivery.
The future is here and we are thrilled.