Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Flash app development extended to HTML users

news
Sep 15, 20092 mins

Startup FHTML launches technology to leverage Adobe's rich Internet platform using HTML skills

Software builders will be able to use HTML development skills to make applications based on Adobe’s Flash technology for rich Internet applications, through technology developed by startup FHTML.

Introduced this week, the company’s FluidHTML product serves as an HTML-like, text-based markup language for authoring Web sites and applications in Flash, said Michael Collette, CEO of FHTML, on Tuesday. Applications are rendered onscreen by the Flash plug-in technology, he said.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Could HTML 5 technology kill Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight? ]

“It’s a relatively simple extension of your existing skill set,” Collette said. Anyone, the FHTML Web site says, can build “highly animated Web sites, ads, media players and 3D animations quickly and easily.”

FluidHTML serves as an alternative to Adobe’s Flex language but unlike Flex, FluidHTML applications are not compiled. Instead, a real-time interpreter is used, providing an advantage in making content searchable, said Collette. Deep-linking also is enabled. This can provide linkage between a catalog and a banner ad, for example.

FHTML’s business plan calls for enabling applications to be built for free, with a fee charged at deployment. The technology goes into a limited testing phase next month, with general availability planned for December.

Tiered pricing for a small Web site deployment ranges from $99 to $499 for a site with as many as 50,000 visits a month. Enterprise-level pricing also will be offered.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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