Adobe Offers Preview Of HTML5-Based Design Software

Adobe is seeking feedback from customers about the pre-beta version of Adobe Edge. "Our goal was to get this first functionality out there," said Heidi Voltmer, product marketing manager, in an interview. Adobe plans to issue additional previews later this year and debut the finished 1.0 release sometime in 2012.

HTML and Adobe Flash are both used by designers to create animated content for Web sites. HTML5, which is under the control of the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) international standards organization, is still under development and may not be completed until next year. But the latest releases of the major browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari, all support HTML5 as it currently stands.

Adobe is developing the Edge product "in line with the [HTML5] standards as they evolve," Voltmer said.

The Flash vs. HTML5 debate has raged since Apple debuted the popular iPad without the ability to display video and multimedia content in a browser using Flash.

Adobe is positioning Edge as an extension to its Dreamweaver software, an HTML-based authoring tool that's used by designers to lay out Web pages. Designers, including those who work on corporate Web sites and designers at advertising and creative agencies, will use Edge for designing interactive and animated content.

Voltmer predicted that some customers would use Edge as an alternative to Flash for applications such as designing animated advertisements. But she said Flash is more applicable for sophisticated tasks such as designing interactive 3D gaming systems, complex video and enterprise applications.

The Adobe Edge preview can be downloaded at www.labs.adobe.com.

Earlier this year Adobe provided a preview of experimental technology code-named Wallaby that converts artwork and animation contained in Adobe Flash Professional files into HTML. Voltmer said the company has not decided whether to commercialize that technology.