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<\/p>\nDoes anyone remember Flash? If a movie featuring human butterflies and a theme song by Queen popped into your head, don\u2019t feel bad — the movie will probably remain relevant to humanity long after Flash player has dissolved into obscurity.<\/p>\n
To be honest, I didn\u2019t actually hate Flash player. What I did hate was having to constantly mess with plug-ins and updates every time I loaded an online program. And while it\u2019s still relevant, the reason you probably thought of Sam Jones when I asked about Flash is because the rest of the internet got tired of it as well.<\/p>\n
It was a Dodo whose viability was already debatable by the time it met its end at the hands of a hungry sailor called HTML5. But certain elements of the web-based programming community have been surprisingly sluggish in adopting the new markup language.<\/p>\n
This is somewhat vexing, and particularly so in the case of online chat communities. For one, the embeddable image, video and audio options native to HTML5 make the language extremely programmer-friendly.<\/p>\n
It is also the closest thing out there to a universally compatible web-based markup language, whether between browsers or between web and mobile platforms. Of course, these advantages ultimately funnel through to end users who choose an HTML5 chat platform.<\/p>\n
Well, a lot has happened to online chat in past decades, much of which has surrounded the transition to mobile use.\u00a0Today, the most popular mode of execution is through use of a native mobile application. Not surprisingly, this trend has led to a massive proliferation of application-based chat and audio-visual communication. Mobile users today carry around numerous chat apps — all downloaded to their devices and all of which accomplish at least marginal variations of practically the same thing. Considering the fact that once upon a time Comic Chat was a revolutionary idea, today\u2019s mobile-app based approach seems like a climax in consumer convenience and options.<\/p>\n
The \u201cmobile site\u201d practice was once the recommended way to go if you wanted to access secure information from a mobile device. Some online banking and other commercial entities still do this, and even Facebook will direct you to a mobile site if you use your phone\u2019s web browser. Thing is, you probably haven\u2019t seen it since you downloaded that \u201ctrusty\u201d native app. Use of these mobile sites has gradually faded under the growing cloud of readily downloadable native applications.<\/p>\n
This should come as a bit of a surprise, given that it translates to a big waste of potential from an HTML5 perspective.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong; mobile apps run fine and are frequently updated to eliminate bugs and optimize performance. But they nevertheless present a host of avoidable issues.
\nGood example: my own love\/hate relationship with Facebook\u2019s iPhone apps. For going on about a week now, I have been unable to (re)download the messenger app after our most recent \u201cget out and never come back!\u201d episode.<\/p>\n
Why is this happening to me? Is it me? Is it the phone? Was it something I said? Not a damn clue. And frankly I don\u2019t care. I just want my baby to come back, and nothing I\u2019ve tried has worked.
\nBut you know what does work, right now as I sit and write this blog? Facebook\u2019s mobile site, messages and all, minus the insanity of forcing me to download a separate chat application.
\nBit of an extreme example? Maybe, but it underscores a point: why waste time downloading, updating and occasionally tossing your phone in anger across the room over applications that could work just as well if not better on a mobile platform?<\/p>\n
The phenomenon of downloadable apps is a bit of an oddity altogether considering the vast amount of space and memory which apps fill and use for functions that a simple web browser can readily accomplish.
\nCase in point: what really angers me about my little predicament is that you actually need two apps to fully utilize Facebook on an iPhone, of all things.
\nThis is an epic fail on Facebook\u2019s part.
\nIndeed, \u201cneed\u201d is a misnomer because you don\u2019t \u201cneed\u201d the app. You just want it enough to think you need it.<\/p>\n
Here are two \u201clittle things\u201d that make Facebook Messenger so addictive:
\n\u2022 audio-video
\n\u2022 push notifications<\/p>\n
You want to know why Facebook\u2019s mobile site doesn\u2019t have these features? Because they didn\u2019t add them — period. Let that sink in for a second. They are fully able to develop a universally device- and browser-compatible HTML5 chat feature on their mobile site, complete with all the embedding features available to you on your laptop or desktop, but they just haven\u2019t done it. For some reason, Facebook wants you to download two separate applications onto potentially the most advanced consolidation device ever invented. And while I have just about had it with my iPhone, it\u2019s not Apple making me hate my life. If there\u2019s one thing that can be said about Apple, its that they take the \u201ceverything you need, right here\u201d approach to product design. They don\u2019t always do it perfectly (or well, for that matter), but they do it every time. It\u2019s Facebook\u2019s apps which are screwing me here.<\/p>\n
We should be getting tired of downloading, updating, and otherwise pulling hair out of our\u00a0head over apps that shouldn\u2019t be on your device in the first place. The only reason we still grab items out of cyberspace is because marketers know how to capitalize on our simian instinct to stuff our cheeks full of figs so that the other monkeys can\u2019t have the ones we want.<\/p>\n
That world is gone. It\u2019s over. There\u2019s no need for everyone to have their own downloaded program because that same program is still available to everyone regardless of whether someone else is using it. There\u2019s better things we can be doing with our time.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what HTML5 is all about. It is based on an entirely new kind of mindset, used by a new generation of programmers, demanded by a new generation of consumers.<\/p>\n
Think about it this way: which of the following would you hope is going through a programmer\u2019s head:
\n\u2022 how can I spend days, weeks or even months reinventing its embedding features when someone has already automated somewhere else?
\n\u2022 How can I spend my time doing new stuff now that the old stuff is already built in?<\/p>\n
In this sense, time is money, and money is quality. And its not just about the cost to the developer. It\u2019s also about the user\u2019s time and experience.<\/p>\n
Our designers at RumbleTalk understand this all too well and for that reason have chosen an HTML5 as a platform for our web\/mobile chat, allowing us optimize its plugin features and compatibility. RumbleTalk\u2019s native features allow our program to run on less complex code, which translates to faster loading and fewer errors, and allows our users unprecedented control over the chat settings.<\/p>\n
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