html5

Opera 12's first beta also swan song for quirky features

Opera has released the first beta of its next-generation browser, code-named Wahoo. Opera 12 beta 1 for Windows, Mac, and Linux, contains many improvements that modernize the browser. It also abandons several quirky features that die-hard fans are likely to miss.

Much of the browser simply brings it in line with its competition, but there is one stand-out new feature. Formerly known as Opera Reader, it takes a few lines of CSS code to allow you to lay out a Web page like a book. It also allows for page resizing without losing the formatting. Opera has decided to open … Read more

Flickr takes next step in its year-long overhaul

Uploading photos to the Internet is about the least exciting part of photo sharing that you could imagine, but Flickr believes a new tool for the task will improve the site dramatically.

The new upload tool, set to arrive this morning, replaces an interface that's remained largely unchanged for years: select multiple photos, watch transfer progress bars crawl across the screen, then add titles, tags, and captions.

The new tool, which runs in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari for now and will support Internet Explorer later, uses new standards such as HTML5's drag-and-drop so that you can copy image … Read more

Five reasons Adobe's CS6 subscription is smart

Adobe Systems is about to begin a difficult -- but smart -- transition.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company will overhaul its core software business in May when it launches a subscription service called Creative Cloud, which bundles its new Creative Suite 6 products with a swath of other products and services. To make it a success, it'll have to convince customers that it's a better value than traditional software licensing.

Here's an indicator of how hard the change will be: A CNET survey in March showed a frosty reception, with 41 percent of respondents viewing Creative Cloud negatively, … Read more

Adobe makes the CS6 sales pitch

Adobe Systems first showed a few paws, then a tail, then a couple ears and some whiskers -- but now the company is letting the complete Creative Suite 6 cat out of the bag.

After a series of sneak previews and early announcements, Adobe now is detailing the full CS6 line, the meat and potatoes of Adobe's business. It's important to a large number of people involved with photography, videography, design, and publishing on the Web or on paper, and it's set to be arrive within 30 days, Adobe announced today.

But CS products aren't cheap, … Read more

Adobe touts tools for Flash-to-HTML conversion

Many developers are ready to dump Flash in favor of Web standards -- and for those who aren't ready, Adobe Systems is throwing its weight behind a new project called CreateJS to ease the transition.

CreateJS is a collection of libraries -- prewritten code, essentially -- that lets people program with Web standards such as HTML5 and JavaScript the way they're accustomed to with Flash. And along with the libraries there's the Toolkit for CreateJS, an extension for Adobe's Flash Pro developer tools that lets programmers work with Flash Pro and then export an HTML/JavaScript … Read more

Stormy reception for Adobe's Creative Cloud

It looks like Adobe Systems has some more convincing to do when it comes to the Creative Cloud, the company's subscription for software and online services due to arrive later this year.

A survey of creative professionals by analyst firm Jefferies & Co. and CNET showed that people have concerns about the Creative Cloud and its price of $600 per year for individuals and $840 per year for corporate users.

Specifically, 41 percent said that they had a negative view of the Creative Cloud compared to 32 percent who expressed a positive view. Beyond that, 62 percent of respondents … Read more

Faster graphics for older PCs in Chrome 18

Google Chrome 18 brings two methods of improved graphics support to both newer and older computers. Released today, Google Chrome 18 stable for Windows (download), Mac (download), Linux (download), and Chrome Frame improves both WebGL and Canvas2D.

To help along WebGL in Chrome on older Windows and Mac computers, it now gets a boost from a software rasterizer called SwiftShader, licensed from TransGaming. SwiftShader only works when Chrome's baked-in graphics processor acceleration doesn't run, and in the blog post announcing the update, Google said that it sought out this third-party solution so that "more users will have … Read more

Adobe to charge Flash coders to use 'premium' features

Adobe Systems released Flash Player 11.2 today -- along with a plan to make the browser plug-in a direct source of revenue for the company.

In the past, the Silicon Valley company has charged programmers to use development tools such as Flash Pro. But for any games published August 1 or later that use premium features in the new version of Flash Player, Adobe will require programmers to pay.

More specifically, Adobe will require developers to share 9 percent of net revenue beyond $50,000 for using the premium features, Adobe announced today. The premium features are Stage 3D … Read more

Pew: Apps, Web to meld, but latter comes out ahead

In the ongoing debate over apps vs. HTML5, a Pew survey finds that tech experts believe the Web will be more dominant in 2020 relative to apps.

According to the survey released today, 35 percent of respondents see apps as the dominant way to deliver content, but 59 percent choose the Web. The rest didn't pick.

The exact wording of the pro-app statement went like this:

"In 2020, most people will prefer to use specific applications (apps) accessible by Internet connection to accomplish most online work, play, communication, and content creation. The ease of use and perceived security … Read more

Survey: Android programmers shifting toward Web apps

Android is gradually slipping down mobile programmers' priority list, with Web apps stepping in to as an answer to development difficulties, a survey released today concludes.

Appcelerator, maker of cross-platform programming tools used by 280,000 programmers to create 35,000 apps, tallied the changes in its quarterly survey. In it, the number of programmers who said they were "very interested" in programming for Android phones declined for a second quarter in a row, this time from about 83.3 percent to 78.6 percent. Android tablet interest also continued a decline for a second quarter, from about … Read more