Current evidence shows that it is high time now to leave behind the ‘wait and see’ approach favored by many eLearning professionals. It is time to adopt HTML5 content development elements quickly.

HTML5 is here to stay and Flash will be out of the scene as soon as 2021 arrives. This leaves us with very little time to make this switch.

Global research firm Gartner has identified HTML5 as one of the top 10 mobile technologies. This report calls HTML5 an essential technology to develop applications across multiple platforms.

The W3C survey also reveals that 42% of developers approach the combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for their mobile applications.

HTML5 adoption in January 2015 by YouTube and the abandonment of Flash was probably one example of early movers. Since then Google has launched the HTML5 Rocks initiative that provides tutorials and articles on this programming language for the Web.

Apple too has repeatedly confirmed that their iPhones and iPads favor HTML5 and do not support Flash. Facebook has an HTML5 Resource Center and the list of other technology adopters keeps growing every day.

It is fair to ask why everyone is moving towards HTML5 and the simple answer to it is mobility, portability, and ubiquity. It allows learning to fully embrace the demand of the learner to access knowledge anywhere, anytime, on any device.

With the boom in mobile device usage across the globe with faster and cheaper bandwidths, learners’ expectations have increased. New age learners expect instant and easy access to relevant information on their mobile devices.

Thus, more and more platforms and eLearning tools are adopting HTML5 elements as there is an increased focus on consistency in performance across multiple devices.

The premise of learning today is to follow the learner and that requires a responsive content design. This responsive design is one of the most critical elements of the production process of any online training material.

This trend to create learning that provides multiple access and is available on multiple devices is solidifying every day. And the Corona pandemic has only strengthened its need further.

Some of the advantages that HTML5 authoring tools have brought to the world of eLearning development are:

Advantages of HTML5

Ability to reach a global audience

Learners are no longer restricted to a single device. They access a course from a tablet, laptop, desktop, smartphone, etc. This increased usage of multiple devices has boosted the rapid growth of the eLearning materials as well that need the help of HTML5.

Any content development company now needs to develop their courses that are compatible with a huge array of devices where any Flash-based course falls short.

HTML5 authoring tools also allow rapid eLearning development by helping create responsive courses. These responsive courses dynamically adapt to any kind of hardware and screen size specifications in the market as of date.

Such a responsive course can be accessed by anyone, on any kind of device that provides a global reach to your product or service.

Ease of development of an engaging course

The Flash-based content development teams traditionally consisted of various teams who would handle the various parts of the process.

There were teams for storyboard and scriptwriting, template creation, interface designing, graphic designing, animation, audio recording and synchronization, scripting, video editing, authoring, and more. But HTML5 does away with all that and puts the power of content development in your hands.

Tailor-made or customized courses for your particular organization has been traditionally a time-consuming and resource-intensive affair.

Most organizations also prefer customized courses as they provide much better brand recall and are more relevant to your particular process.

They prefer it as these are more applicable to the process and provide many other benefits. While no organization would deny the use of HTML5 to create their learning modules when it saves them on multiple fronts.

Earlier, a single shift of graphic or programming elements had to undergo a long process. This process would include documentation, approvals, explanations, further discussions on its relevance, and more before someone would finally change it.

And many times, the change would still not be as much as the SME had initially intended. But we had learned to live with such let-downs over the years while we used Flash. Such instances completely disappear with the use of HTML5-based tools.

With the use of HTML5-based authoring tools like Captivate, Storyline, Lectora, Raptivity, etc. one can speed up the process of development appreciably and much satisfactorily.

This process also reduces the intensity of the entire process that was one major limitation of any Flash-based eLearning materials to date.

Designers now have the power in their hands to customize even the smallest aspects of the course. They can change the training interface and design including color schemes, fonts, spaces, etc. with almost no effort.

They can even develop short animations, interactivities, and game-based content which earlier required an entire team of professionals who knew Flash programming.

Content developers can also use these HTML5 tools to embed any audio, video, or other graphic elements that suit their storyboards. They can easily create customized courses on their own that are more interactive by spending less time, effort, and money.

Future convenience 

Developing an eLearning course requires the inputs from multiple people and their varied expertise but the content may also change over time.

Traditional courses made with Flash used to be difficult to modify as one had to change things first in the source file. After that one would render them to get the runtime file to run it on your course.

This process essentially required a professional with a set of special skills to make even the smallest of changes. The process used to get even longer in case your original course was created a few years back.

Flash versions used to change every few years and older files sometimes would not open in the new version. Source files also used to get corrupted for a variety of reasons or one needed to get special permissions.

Budgets were another worry in such cases even if you had to add just one single word at a particular place in a single file. And it used to take someone to sift through a lot of files to find the problem area that took time.

But HTML5 removes this dependence completely and modifying any of the elements in the course is an easy activity now. This secures the future of the course and its relevance as one can change the module as per the new content to release an update.

One no longer needs to wait for lengthy processes of approvals and the whims of technology to behave, before publishing an update. One can now make small revisions to the content over time. This helps increase the shelf life of the course and provides a greater return on investment on the training budget.

A simple approach to work

While you shall still require subject matter expertise and instructional design methodologies to present your information to the audience. Developing eLearning courses with HTML5 does not require you to turn into a master coder or a perfect animator anymore. HTML5 authoring tools provide anyone with basic design skills, means to create high-quality eLearning courses.

These authoring tools provide a convenient method to modify the design and tackle the development part of the course. Using HTML5, one may focus on the instructional strategy and the actual content part instead.

These tools also allow for the creation of a module with minimal training and supervision. And most authoring tools also provide a plethora of pre-built templates that are fully-functional in all respects. All of this put together reduces the effort in HTML5 content development appreciably.

StercoLearning has been providing high-end HTML5 development suitable for the web, new media, and e-learning now for over twenty years. Contact us now for a perfect solution for your HTML5 conversions or new developments in HTML5.