New product please: "Pictures to HTML5"

[Growltiger]

I have looked at Picture To Exe and I'm impressed. But it is not what I'm looking for. Like many others I want to be able to put my slide shows on the web - I have hosted space to upload to. I don't want to email them or post a DVD. Far better to make something which only requires the user to click on a link.

At the moment I have used Adobe Bridge. The current Adobe Bridge web offerings are still mostly based on Flash, with only a very basic HTML version. As Flash dies out, a good web based HTML5 solution is needed more and more.

So you have a marvellous opportunity. All you have to do is write a new back-end that generates HTML5 instead of a .EXE - everything else remains the same. You will have a new product and will be twice as rich. The extraordinary thing is that as far as I can see there is NO competition yet! You could be first.

What do you think?

[Lin Evans]

I don't believe you will get much buy-in about "replacing" the EXE file with an HTML5 version here.

The name of the product is PicturesTo"EXE" - LOL. Perhaps it may someday be possible to include HTML5 as an output option, but it won't be at the expense of the exe option.

As for Flash going away - that's unlikely. There are many million Flash users and thousands of products which produce Flash. HTML 5 has a "long way" to go before it will even begin to catch up to what can be done with Flash.

It's nice that Apple supports HTML5 but Apple is a long way from ruling the internet or the hardware platforms. HTML 5 has many great points, and it's being somewhat embraced by Youtube, etc., by creating both Flash and HTML5 but many of the things which can be done with PTE simply are not totally amenable for the present with HTML5.

The users of PTE include many AV competition people and among the things HTML5 doesn't do is support the supreme image quality possible with executable PC and MacIntosh code.

It would be great to have the ability to output to "both" HTML5 and Flash in my opinion....

Best regards,

Lin

[davegee]

Hi GT,

Welcome to the PTE forum.

Two points:

Would it not be better to suggest that Pictures to EXE outputs a HTML5 option. We already have a variety of options (in Publish) and perhaps what you are suggesting is an extra option?

Secondly would it be possible to point us to an existing HTML5 Slide Show so that we can see this new option at work?

Keep posting,

DG

[Growltiger]

Welcome to the PTE forums.

I'm guessing you mean html 5 canvas + javascript and not just a html 5 video player?

Demos

I have no idea if this method could do 60 fps, which is required to create a smooth slideshow.

If you are planning to include video then you might as well do the html 5 video player method.

Good idea but maybe ahead of its time.

Tom

I don't mean a video player, I mean a controllable slideshow with transitions.

Ahead of its time? Yes, but only just. Now is the moment to be grabbed!

My idea is that it is far better to spend the effort to add this capability and open up a huge new market, as at least half the new product is already there.

[Growltiger]

Would it not be better to suggest that Pictures to EXE outputs a HTML5 option. We already have a variety of options (in Publish) and perhaps what you are suggesting is an extra option?

Secondly would it be possible to point us to an existing HTML5 Slide Show so that we can see this new option at work?

Technically yes, it could simply be another output option. But the product would be crippled by its old name, which implies the need to transport an EXE file to the viewer, who executes it.

So from a marketing viewpoint it should be a new product with a new name, hence "Pictures to HTML5". Obviously that is a dreadful name but someone could think up a really good one.

As bandwidth gets better, the old .EXE method is going to become less and less attractive compared to the immediate gratification of the web. People expect everything to work on the web. So you have a fantastic opportunity to build what will one day become the replacement product. And I suspect it would be attractive to many many people right now, even if just as an option.

You asked for a demo. As I mentioned no one seems to be doing this much yet. But I did find this slideshow, which has transitions.

Slideshow

And this page has all the code for it to get you started!

Explanation

Here is a Powerpoint like one from Google, complete with code. Click on the link at the top to see the slideshow.

Google slideshow

[Growltiger]

I've replied in blue below each point. I hope this is readable.

I don't believe you will get much buy-in about "replacing" the EXE file with an HTML5 version here.

That is why I propose it as a new product. In no way should it replace what is there now.

The name of the product is PicturesTo"EXE" - LOL. Perhaps it may someday be possible to include HTML5 as an output option, but it won't be at the expense of the exe option.

Agreed. This is not replacing, it is adding.

As for Flash going away - that's unlikely. There are many million Flash users and thousands of products which produce Flash. HTML 5 has a "long way" to go before it will even begin to catch up to what can be done with Flash.

I agree Flash will be around for many years to come. But it is doomed as Adobe themselves have given up on it. They dropped development plans for Flash on mobile devices. They are promoting their HTML5 development tools. Apple's refusal to put it on the iPad triggered a rethink, but it may well have happened eventually anyway.

It's nice that Apple supports HTML5 but Apple is a long way from ruling the internet or the hardware platforms. HTML 5 has many great points, and it's being somewhat embraced by Youtube, etc., by creating both Flash and HTML5 but many of the things which can be done with PTE simply are not totally amenable for the present with HTML5.

I understand that. At first it would be necessary to enable only a subset of current features. As both HTML5 and the product develop, more could be turned on.

The users of PTE include many AV competition people and among the things HTML5 doesn't do is support the supreme image quality possible with executable PC and MacIntosh code.

I understand and agree. And there is no way those users could or should contemplate changing.

It would be great to have the ability to output to "both" HTML5 and Flash in my opinion....

Technically that is a good idea and could be done anyway to the current product.

But that would be missing my main point, which is to go for the much larger market consisting of everyone who wants to put a slideshow on the web, including for mobile devices.

Best regards,

Lin

[Lin Evans]

Hi Tom,

One of the primary reasons I believe that Flash will be around for a long time is that it is embraced by 98% of enterprise level web solutions providers. Large companies do not make changes quickly or without good reasons. Yes, there are millions of telephone users who also browse the web with their tiny screens, and as long as there is fallback to HTML5, they function just fine on the web without Flash. But Flash is not just about displaying content and video players, it's also a "very powerful" programming and streaming environment and controlled very carefully by a single provider, Adobe. HTML5 is primarily controlled by a committee made up of Mozilla Foundation, Opera Software and Apple. HTML5 is not even a "standard" yet, but is scheduled for a release as such in 2014 Of course Apple would love to do away with Flash but it's not all that easy. I think this Forbes article explains very well my own opinion about why this is not likely to happen anytime soon.

http://www.forbes.co...is-a-non-sense/

Best regards,

Lin

Also I have to disagree with Lin about Flash's continuing popularity. I think since mobile devices (iOS and Android 4+) have never supported or dropped Flash, it is only a matter of time before it fades away. I know Chrome has Flash internally (except for mobile devices) but it also has html 5. Web designers go for the lowest common denominator, which is rapidly becoming html 5. Only time will tell.

[Growltiger]

Please don't let this discussion get bogged down in the Flash issue. I just mentioned it because I can't use Adobe Bridge to make slideshows (other than very primitive ones) that can run on iOS or on Android or on Windows 8's Internet Explorer on the new Modern UI (previously called Metro) since the version of IE that runs on that interface does not support Flash. All that means I don't want to use Flash any more.

Please let's stick to the main question I asked - "Pictures for HTML5".

I understand that Igor is "the man" and I look forward to hearing his comments on my suggestion.

[Lin Evans]

Igor is on Holiday and won't be back for a while - but he will likely respond once he gets back and settled in... The way the posts go, the original question or suggestion always takes priority no matter the sequence of comments - so your request will always be at the top of the list.

Best regards,

Lin

Please don't let this discussion get bogged down in the Flash issue. I just mentioned it because I can't use Adobe Bridge to make slideshows (other than very primitive ones) that can run on iOS or on Android or on Windows 8's Internet Explorer on the new Modern UI (previously called Metro) since the version of IE that runs on that interface does not support Flash. All that means I don't want to use Flash any more.

Please let's stick to the main question I asked - "Pictures for HTML5".

I understand that Igor is "the man" and I look forward to hearing his comments on my suggestion.

[Growltiger]

Thanks for the explanation about Igor.

3 years is a long time and much has changed. Did you take a look at the little demo I linked to from message 6 above? I don't think that was possible back then (without Flash).

[Growltiger]

wowslider looks pretty good to me. It shows a range of transitions is possible.