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Topic: Hardware

HTML5 enables interactive ebook, games, and more

Summary: HTML5 blurs the line between web and client-based applications

Joel Evans

By for The Mobile Gadgeteer |

If you were wondering if HTML5 has what it takes to be a real contender in the mobile space, check out Google's latest offering: 20thingsilearned.com. The URL features a story book entitled "20 Things I Learned About Browsers And The Web". While the content itself is entertaining and educational, done in a storybook style, and featuring information about browsers, browser extensions, plug-ins, and more, it's entirely built in HTML5 and features some pretty incredible web effects. For example, you can view a table of contents, turn pages with a curl, similar to the iBook platform, and even exit the page and resume where you were reading from.

The 20thingsilearned demonstration definitely shows what's possible in HTML5, and continues to blur the line between client-based apps and web-based apps. I haven't tried it out on my iPad or Samsung Tab yet, but I will be doing that shortly.

Before stumbling on Google's latest offering, I had really only seen some experimental games using HTML5, including Google's own PacMan. Google's latest offering has definitely gone far beyond that.

Topics: Hardware, Browser, Google, Software Development

About

With more than 15 years of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently the VP of Strategy Integration for Mobiquity, an enterprise-class mobile solutions provider.

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16 comments
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  • Very very impressive

    Excellent job by Google on this. Talk about a well polished HTML5 app.
    mibjr
    Reply Vote

    • I can not even get a prompt about upper case ...

      when entering password in a browser so I suggest we put down the koolaid for a while.
      LBiege
      Reply Vote

      • ...ok i'm lost

        Where the HECK are you that requires a password?

        And there's no koolaid drinking being done over here, just a simple compliment on some nice work done in HTML5, nothing more.
        mibjr
        Reply Vote

  • It is clear that mobile Safari is NOT an HTML5 browser

    On Chrome, this site is beautiful. Wow.<br><br>On my iPhone, it barely worked. It was <b>extremely</b> slow. The page animations did not work. The AJAX didn't work properly since clicking on the next page caused the URL to dropdown from the top of the screen to show that the next page was loading. The bookmark didn't show up. The animation on "What Is The Internet?" page (one of the first pages) did not work.<br><br>Since this is an HTML5 page, one can only conclude that mobile Safari is <b>not</b> compliant with HTML5 standards.
    NonZealot
    Reply Vote

  • RE: HTML5 enables interactive ebook, games, and more

    Works great on IE9 too, looks like all the browsers will soon be completely HTML5 compliant.
    ParsonsProject93
    Reply Vote

  • RE: HTML5 enables interactive ebook, games, and more

    HTML 5 is charming to me, but it's will be a disaster to app creaters like iFunia who provide video converter and dvd ripper for apple user.
    pennwarren
    Reply Vote

  • RE: HTML5 enables interactive ebook, games, and more

    The book app, yes, is great on Chrome.
    Znod
    Reply Vote

  • DHTML has been doing this for 12 years now...

    ...as so many people have pointed out.

    eBooks, Games, client-based apps?? get out more people!

    One example of the guys who have been thinking big from the beginning:

    http://webfx.eae.net

    Look at the dates of their posts and check out their site on archive.org. They have shown us what is possible.
    Mic Cox
    Reply Vote

    • RE: HTML5 enables interactive ebook, games, and more

      @Mic Cox The "effects" on the site you refer to rely on javascript and java (applets) rather than HTML alone to implement features. The point of this article is dynamic effects are available in HTML5 apart from the need for supplemental scripting or programming languages (or SSIs). Valid comparisons do require some understanding of the technologies being considered. Let's compare HTML to HTML.
      splong@...
      Reply Vote

      • RE: HTML5 enables interactive ebook, games, and more

        @splong@...
        Yeah, that's why that google example also has to rely on javascript. HTML5 alone does not do that.
        H3llb0und
        Reply Vote

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