“HTML 5 vs. Flash” topic has been actively discussed in the global web dev circles lately. Apple devices don’t support Flash and this adds the fuel to the discussion fire. And while the advocates of the Open Standards are prophesying the near end of Flash, Adobe Flash fans are desperately defending their platform.
We decided to stay dispassionate and take a look at the current achievements of both platforms. In this post you can find a showcase of some well-designed websites that implement HTML 5 and Flash features at their best. This is by no means an attempt to put any of the platforms in a favorable light, but an endeavor to see what advantages each of them is actually able to deliver to the end-user at this stage.
Hopefully, the following collection will highlight the benefits of HTML 5 and Flash to you and give you some visual inspiration for your own projects as well.
Table of Contents
Websites built with HTML 5
Eye Styles
Unique eyewear shop Eye Styles from Portland, Oregon shows wonderful rollover effects implemented by means of HTML 5.
Clearideaz
This is a personal portfolio of French designer Olivier Gorzalka. Very good markup can be observed on this site which is powered by WordPress, by the way.
Jamie Wright
By viewing the portfolio of the British web designer Jamie Wright in Google Chrome or Safari 4.0 you will be able to enjoy this vivid and colorful website to the fullest. The latest version of Firefox reveals the roughness of typography, while Opera breaks the text positioning altogether.
CatCubed
Unlike the previous website, Colin Fahrion’s HTML 5 powered personal blog feels best in Firefox 3.6 and Google Chrome.
Shannen Coslow
The portfolio of Pennsylvania-based designer Shannen Coslow is fully coded in HTML 5 and has an orderly structure and an beautiful, minimalist design.
Nathan Staines
The personal site of Starkers HTML5 theme developer Nathan Staines is simple and elegant. Besides a great implementing of HTML 5 markup it displays a stylish monochrome color-scheme with felicitous color inclusions.
Slim Kiwi
The site of the web studio Slim Kiwi has a unique and eye-catching design mostly due to the beautiful graphic elements used in it.
Go On Web
French web design agency Go On Web created its website with HTML 5 and used some lovely little interaction features.
Sheep in Disguise
Website of the web design and development studio Sheep in Disguise shows a neat layout and stylish typography, and of course, HTML 5 well using a number of the new structural elements.
New Zealand International Art Festival
Even though you can see some Flash components on this website, it still shows a solid implementation of new HTML standards and better browser accessibility might be a reason for the use of flash files here.
Cameron Chamberlain
In spite of being the most anticipated feature in HTML 5, video tag is still rare to see on live websites. Cameron Chamberlain’s personal site contains the new video element implemented using Video for Everybody.
Zoe Ann Baker
This website is clean and beautiful, big arrows pointing at post sections when you hover a mouse over menu categories are a nice touch.
We love 02 SCT
This website belongs to the community of graduate students of Jimei University (China), 2002 Computer Science and Technology.
Ella Design
This site shows a sleek use of HTML 5 and CSS 3, truly an eye-candy.
Narkoba
On Narkoba website you can find various audio samples, videos, snippets and other DJ music stuff. On a page Happy Love visitors can play with some audio and video elements which are quite fun despite being experimental. Thus, you can trigger audio loops directing the mouse at the white border rectangles and you can also launch video by typing “happy love” on the keyboard.
9elements.com Project
This is a sweet online experiment showing the great possibilities HTML 5 provides for audio & canvas. It loads 100 tweets related to HTML5 and displays them using a javascript-based particle engine. Each particle represents a tweet – click on one of them and it’ll appear on the screen.
Flash Sites
Canvas
Canvas is a unique poster shopping website featuring an amazing user interaction process.
Burger King
Visitors of the Burger King website can literally customize it on the fly. Using three basic sliders you can control the subject area of the content to display. What a clever navigation solution!
PepperWorks
Website of the Polish media agency PepperWorks is done in an elegant, minimalist style. Great use of high-quality photos and fast loading provide a pleasant browsing experience.
Fynn
Another example of uncluttered and usable Flash website design.
magneticNorth
A creative navigation mechanism can be observed on magneticNorth website – a user can access the content drawing various shapes with the help of a mouse.
Simods Homes
Flash can work well for business and the site of the Australian construction company Simonds Homes proves this.
We Are All Fans
Flash can also be a good tool to render streaming content. This is well illustrated on the We Are All Fans website. Here portraits of selected Grammy-nominated artists are created in real time from social media content generated by fans across the web.
The Blues Maker
This is a funny Flash application you can use to compose your own blues song.
Converse
Converse online store is Flash-based, still the shopping process and website usability are on a very high level here.
Lego Click
Lego Click website contains information on art and creativity, mostly Lego-inspired.
Andreas Smetana
Website of the well-known photographer Anreas Smetana features an original navigation and full-screen photo galleries for the best visual impact.
Djeco
Website of the toy brand Djeco is a celebration of interactive design. Besides, it shows awesome illustrations and work with sound.
Plate Interactive
A good bunch of elegance and beauty in this one. After all, what else can be expected from a globally renowned interactive agency Plate?
F.One – Bandit 3 Most Wanted
Promo website of the kiteboarding brand F.One has a spectacular 3D designs and brings an excellent interaction experience to users. By the way, be sure to watch the video in the category Cinema – it’s a masterpiece indeed!
Adhemas Batista
The artworks of Adhemas Batista used to design his personal website are enough to give it a remarkable look.
As you might see, HTML 5 has a lot of wonderful features to offer and it’s surely worth anticipating. However, people declaring HTML 5 will kill Flash are grossly exaggerating. Why don’t we just try think more positively and assume that both Flash and HTML 5 will exist in harmony to the glory of the Web. After all, none of the platforms can be a solution to everything. Each of them is just a tool with a certain amount of capabilities and it’s up to you, dear designers and developers, to decide which tool will help to achieve the best results in your job.
Written exclusively for Design Woop by FlashMint, the top-class provider of flash templates and flash components.