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Apple posts a new HTML5 demo page -- for Safari only
Whether you're on Team Apple or Team Adobe in the whole Flash vs. HTML5 brouhaha, you really can't dispute just how nice some of the new HTML5 and CSS3 features are, and while Microsoft was quick to throw a demo page up to tout IE9's capabilities, Apple for some reason waited until yesterday to post one for Safari.
...And they locked it down with user-agent detection to allow only people using Safari to view the demos. Anybody using something other than Safari to check the page out will be greeted with a box telling them to download Safari the moment they try to view one.
The ironic part is that Apple felt that people using, say, Chrome shouldn't be able to use any of the demos shown on the new HTML5 and Web Standards demo page, while any HTML5-capable browser can play with the demos on Apple's Safari Technology Demo, where all the same demos can be found, along with several others. Using both Chrome 5 and 6, I was able to use every demo except Video, VR, and Movie Trailers (which worked but couldn't load the actual trailer video). All three of those demos needed Safari to load the H.264 successfully.
I'll be the first to admit that Safari's been way ahead of the curve HTML5-wise (it's been able to do just about everything in these demos since last year, including video), but I think it's a bit on the daft side for their marketing team to block Chrome users from trying the demos on the page that's labeled HTML5 and Web Standards. A simple disclaimer saying that Safari may do a bit better would have probably sufficed, and now everyone is going to call them out on it -- like this.
Comments
17
Subscribe to commentsDave JohnsonJun 4th 2010 4:51PM
Silly Apple. They had to pick some browser technology to be way ahead on, since they were so far behind in that department. I'm sort of reminded of the way-ahead take as it applies to DisplayPort and Firewire 800. People implement as the need/demand arises. Apple's trying to create the demand ... and suggest Safari is the only browser that can take advantage of HTML5. Then they go and ban every other browser on the planet to make sure nobody can contradict their advertised claim.
Another smooth apple move.
KeegdnaBJun 4th 2010 5:22PM
There's got to be something illegal here. Suggesting your browser can do things others can't in order to trick people into downloading it? That's just slightly less shady than bundling it with iTunes updates.
EvenioJun 4th 2010 9:08PM
Suggesting that this is even remotely illegal is ludicrous. They're suggesting that Safari can do something other browsers can't because it DOES do something they can't: work with the range of HTML5 features that it does. The other browsers are currently lagging behind in HTML5 support (and understandably so, considering how nebulous the whole thing still is), or they'd run the demos just as flawlessly. On one hand, Apple is doing a good thing by pushing for HTML5 to be adopted and essentially forced into getting solidified. On the other hand, they're acting like utter dicks in order to do it.
AnthonyJun 5th 2010 2:42AM
@Evenio - Other browsers (like Firefox, Chrome, and Opera) do HTML5 just fine. The problem is that Apple chose to back H.264 for the HTML5 video standard. No open-source browser (as well as Opera) is supporting H.264 because of licensing issues and have, instead, chose other free/open-source codecs (e.g. Ogg Theora for Firefox). This has been mentioned several times before.
StephenJun 4th 2010 5:25PM
They didnt lock it down completely. Just go here:
http://developer.apple.com/safaridemos/
Matthew RogersJun 4th 2010 5:55PM
Yep, that's in the post.
Dave JohnsonJun 4th 2010 6:39PM
Correct. I just think it's cheesy to have the main page throw that nonsense up. Are they really that desperate to have mainstream users adopt Safari?
Uh, forget I asked that question.
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/browser-market-share.aspx?qprid=0
StephenJun 4th 2010 6:43PM
My bad. I suck at reading I guess...Redacted
DeoWulfJun 5th 2010 3:54PM
Even clicking on the tiles on that page doesn't let you through. You have to right click the button and choose "open link in a new tab" to get past their persistent pestering.
3tearJun 4th 2010 6:39PM
Just to play devils advocate for a second; the demo page probably uses some HTML5 features that are not yet available in other browsers. Since the HTML5 spec isn't actually finalised yet, it makes sense that there is not uniform HTML5 compatibility for all browsers.
Presumably the purpose behind this demo page is to showcase what's available with HTML5 and Safari, so it kinda makes sense that they would do a UserAgent check and then offer a Safari download link if the user is not running Safari.
Chrome may be using an older version of Webkit, so perhaps that's why they also barred it. Or maybe the dev that implemented the UA detection was just lazy.
I agree that it's annoying and the UA detection/blocking is a bit silly, but perhaps they didn't have any nefarious motives, perhaps they just didn't think it though.
Stephen SimpsonJun 4th 2010 6:48PM
Very good thinking. I mean think about it. If you know that your product works 100% with another product, you may say that you only support the other product. Apple knows that these html5 tests work 100% with safari. They may also work with chrome but probably not the full 100%.
Also, from personal experience, people are dumb. They may open these up in firefox or IE, find it not work and say that the test was stupid. But all in all, I dont think that Apple should have done it.
AnthonyJun 5th 2010 2:45AM
Wouldn't have anything to do with Chrome using an older version of WebKit. Rather, it would have to do with Apple's video codec of choice (H.264) vs. Mozilla's and Google's codecs.
skalpaJun 4th 2010 9:18PM
They locked it for a good purpose: those demos do NOT showcase web standards. Their CSS is full of '-webkit-something' proprietary rules that do not correspond to any existing standard.
When browser vendors use vendor prefixes to do something like "border-radius" it is OK. But when Apple add "box reflections" rules that do not correspond to any standard, it's not.
So what now ? Tomorrow MSIE 9 will be released with its own set of "-msie-something" proprietary CSS extensions, and making web pages will be about juggling between "webkit" and "msie" rules ? Welcome back to the 20th century.
homer.simpsoyJun 5th 2010 3:07AM
Agreed - Apple is trying to push their preferred platform. Which violates one of the basic rules of developing with web standards:
"Never tell the user to change their browser to view your content".
What Apple is doing now is reminiscent of the IE vs Netscape "browser wars". Vendors using proprietary features in an attempt to gain market share.
HTML5, CSS3 and JS are great - they're just not ready yet, and they won't be until we get some consistent browsers support. If we've learned anything from XHTML, CSS2 and JS, consistent support for web standards is not an easy thing to build and browsers will continue to add proprietary extensions to stay ahead of the competition.
3tearJun 5th 2010 4:22AM
"those demos do NOT showcase web standards. Their CSS is full of '-webkit-something' proprietary rules that do not correspond to any existing standard."
There is no web standard when it comes to CSS3 (or HTML5) - it's not finished yet. The '-webkit-something' CSS rules are proposals from the webkit team. Just the same as Mozilla's CSS proposals: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS_Reference/Mozilla_Extensions
Brian!Jun 5th 2010 5:14PM
And that is the clear reason why I still like Flash.
Don't get me wrong, HTML5 is a nice advance. I wish it didn't take a decade for HTML to increase a version number!
However, it took years and years to get HTML design so that a site looks pretty close to one another on each browser. And even then, you can never count on pixel-perfect results.
Besides, Flash isn't feature to feature replaced by HTML5. I am not opposed to dumping Flash for rich-media, but I want something that matches it.
Going from Flash to HTML5 feels like trading in a high end BMW for a Kia and told that the Kia is just as good. Sure they both drive down the road, but the experience is not the same.
hazardJun 5th 2010 4:10AM
Hmm .. the transitions page is quite brittle. Given the four-year-old treatment [click continuously on the selections] for about 5 seconds and voila no more transitions.