Making a case for HTML5 investment
HTML5 promises to get publishers closer to digital media’s Promised Land: create once, deliver everywhere. As deployments increase and the standard evolves, media companies are finding it easier to make a business case for HTML5 investment.
At the MPA Digital: Technology conference in New York, media executives and vendors discussed HTML5’s potential and some of the early lessons they’re learning from their HTML5 projects. The consensus: HTML5 enables publishers to maximize resources as content distribution expands across an ever-expanding variety of tablets and smartphones. HTML5 also provides investment protection against future devices in a mobile market that is still forming.
“HTML5 allows a publisher to create content with existing staff, without adding time or steps in the workflow to repurpose content across multiple channels,” Pete Marsh, EVP of global strategy for Atex, said during a panel discussion at the MPA event. “As new devices become available, knowing you have a foundation built on HTML5 makes it easier to get those platforms up and running.”
Re-building around HTML5
Some publishers are already re-building their digital foundations around HTML5, having justified that responsive design and web apps are more cost-effective than native, device-specific apps.
“Finding iOS programmers can be expensive,” said Don Peschke, CEO of August Home Publishing, which is transitioning its portfolio of woodworking, garden, cooking and home improvement websites to HTML5. “We have HTML technology in-house, so doing a web app actually saved us money, because we’ve already made the investment [in the underlying skills].”
August Home began its HTML5 transition last fall, turning an e-recipe feature on its Cuisine at Home website into an HTML5 web app that adjusts text and image sizes and functionality for each device. iPad users can swipe through the three panels of images and instructions, while desktop users can click to advance.
This componentized development strategy will enable August Home to quickly scale its HTML5 work across e-articles, digital magazines, e-books and video, said Peschke.
“You have to think like a 19-year-old, who doesn’t care about print,” he said, explaining his company’s decision to re-craft its mission around digital delivery. “They want to read stuff on a screen, they want it to be interactive, and they want it now.”
Reasons to switch
HTML5, Peschke believes, is the best environment for delivering that experience. Executives added several other reasons to begin making the transition to HTML5, including:
- Less code. A common code base for web and mobile environments will reduce the amount of code that developers need to maintain, thereby decreasing the chances of errors that lead to broken links or other negative user experiences. IDG’s Consumer & SMB group, for example, is consolidating its PCWorld.com, Macworld.com and new TechHive.com websites around a common HTML5 code base – which Chief Technology Officer Aaron Jones estimates will be about 20% the size of the existing code base just for PCWorld.com.
- Better SEO. Responsive design eliminates the need for a separate mobile site, which will make it easier to maintain backlinks and redirects and optimize around one set of search criteria, said Marsh. “That translates into higher page ranking, which translates into greater searchability for your site,” he said. Remember: native apps aren’t searchable by Google. “If you’re in an app, nothing can find you,” said Frank Livaudais, chief technology officer at CDS Global.
- Retention. HTML5 is a cool new playground for developers, which publishers can leverage to keep their best developers in the fold. “I want my folks to be working on what gets them excited, and HTML5 is where they want to be,” said Larry Chevres, chief technology officer at New York Media, which is transitioning its NYmag.com and Vulture.com properties to HTML5.
Some caveats
There are some caveats. Page loads can take a bit longer on mobile devices because with responsive design, the full-size images are loaded first, then scaled down to accommodate smaller screens.
Also, publishers may need to upgrade their content management systems to support HTML5 and responsive design. Too much hard-coding will make the transition more difficult. “You want complete control over the HTML, CSS and JavaScript,” said Marsh. To take best advantage, he said, make sure the CMS separates format from content.
Ad operations will also need to adapt for responsive design. To date, advertisers have not been as aggressive as some publishers in developing creative that adapts to a responsive UI.
Mobile web vs. native app
While much has been made of the mobile web-vs.-native app debate, some publishers maintain that both are important ways to reach users. New York Media, for example, will continue to develop apps even as it rolls out HTML5 across its websites.
“We’re hedging our bets,” said Chevres. “We’ll continue to do app development while we see the maturation of solutions that can deliver a richer app experience with HTML5. But there’s a lot of education and tool sets that need to be developed to support that richer experience.”
Join the discussion
Its impossible so sum up the entire web vs native argument in a single post, but I think this highlights the advantages in HTML(5) over developing for IOS. Thanks to the author for bringing this to the table, as its not something I'd have started.
As someone who has worked for newspapers, magazines, digital magazines, and websites, I can safely say there is no 'right' answer, you've just got to figure out what works for you given budget and time constraints. Like an real world problem.
There are two choices for publishers, each has their own sub paths but this starts the ball rolling.
1. Put in the time and effort to develop your own App, or use a pre-existing magazine App container. You could spend a fortune, or you could spend £99/month, but at least you'll be able to see some revenue thanks to Apple's existing payment framework. Betwene them and Amazon, they've got it cracked.
– The Guardian have a beautiful App or iPad. But no-one is buying it. This may be down to payment issues, or the fact you get exactly the same information for free through………
2. Build a HTML5 website, and deliver everywhere. You'll never make a penny from this though, as its a website. Don't kid yourself, its no longer a magazine. It's no longer finite as magazines are. Once you start a 'stream' its a website. It's hassle to buy anything online when compared to the App Store or Amazon.
– The FT are probably the one exception to this rule, but a great percentage of their subscriptions come from business accounts where its its a claimable expense. The FT is a tool for businessmen at the end of the day, they're quite special.
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We publish Hot Rum Cow, a quarterly print magazine. We give the content away for free online in a web format, but also sell digital replicas at half the price for someone that wants the entire magazine immediately. As I said, all about figuring what works for you.
On the payment side I would accept that beating Apple on this is nigh on impossible but at least existing publishers have experience and ability to charge customers. Hence why HTML5 is so appealing as it can offer a great and more frictionless app payment experience for existing customers. And obviously swerve the small matter of the Apple 30% cut.
Waiting for the day that HTML5 can do what Flash v 1.0 can do and we can bring back some multimedia instead of being shoved back to the digital dark ages by Apple.
I don't follow this article either. Early on it boasts "create once deliver everywhere" with magical new HTML5. So... okay, it's a HTML5 article, err, wait. Any HTML, not the newest version (5), can be used (along with media queries, CSS, etc.) to deliver a responsive site. So HTML5 has little to do with responsive design. HTML in and of itself is cross-platform. You can even use it to build native apps if you run them through PhoneGap. Of course, with limitations. Apparently to run a large publishing company all you need to be able to do is use the word HTML5 in a sentence. The hurdle in my eyes isn't delivering the content, it's monetizing it.
Regarding monetization, most publishers already have the infrastructure to process online payments for their offline content. It's precisely because they don't have to go via Apple et al and pay 30% commission for the privilege that makes HTML5 browser apps so attractive.
Yeah... because I LOVE typing my credit card information in via my iPhone or iPad. Seriously, I think it's amazing that people discount the frictionless environment that Apple and Amazon have created for commerce. Google hasn't been able to duplicate it, but publishers can?
This article seems to overlook a few key things worth considering.
Native apps give publishers their own real estate on the user's device. HTML5 is accessed through a browser. While the user can bookmark a browser page to their desktop, to look like a "quasi" app - it still requires effort. When a user downloads an app it automatically puts the icon on their device desktop.
But the big issue is: PAYMENTS
How will HTML5 sites monetize content?
You'll have to first create some sort of payment system -- use PayPal, other 3rd parties, or build your own to store credit card info. Building your own is $$$ and there are lots of government regulations for this.
Then there's the need for user administration. Once you're collecting payments, each user should have a login to get to the content (yet another login, as if we don't have enough of those).
Simply to purchase the content (assuming it's not free), users have to fill out forms, sign up, remember another password.
All of this in comparison to Apple or Android already having hundreds of millions of registered users with their payment info. A native app gives publishers the ability to sell content with 1-tap, as opposed to all of this other headache.
These are all important considerations when developing your digital / mobile publishing strategy.
Excellent point. Amazon and Apple have certainly created ecosystems of commerce, but FT.com seems to be doing quite well while staying out of the app commerce platform.
Is this article about Responsive Design or HTML5? Both are completely different topics. Really getting tired of people essentially equating HTML5 to concepts that have been around for a long time, such as responsive resign and ultimately content strategy. These are things your company should have been employing for years. I don't need the HTML5 buzzword to know that m-dot sites and mobile apps for content regurgitation are bad ideas. They've always been bad ideas!