This high-level white paper is intended to provide an overview of how PressRun utilizes HTML5 and why the adoption of this technology by the platform results in a powerful combination when creating digital publications for the iPad, Android and WebOS.

If you haven’t heard, HTML5 is the new buzzword of web and mobile development – and for good reason as the goal of HTML5 is to bring about consistency in standards and functionality across web, mobile, and even tablets.
This consistency goes beyond simple compliance to a common method of how content is defined and interpreted, how media is supported (eg audio, video), how scripting languages interact with each other (eg javascript, etc) and ultimately reduces the need for proprietary plugins to achieve rich effects – such as the additional overhead to the download/install the Flash plugin.

What that means to the community at large is that the web and app experience (for any device!) should be a LOT closer to the “write once deploy anywhere model” that has been promised to content and media owners (and ultimately end users) for years.

That’s the goal of HTML5; and to some extent it is much closer than it’s ever been.

At PressRun, we are passionate about the future of HTML5 and take full advantage of what it offers. As tablets are by their very nature “web centric” devices (containing native support for HTML5, CSS, Javascript, and various media formats), PressRun works with HTML5 to essentially transform a publisher’s print and CMS content, turning it into rich content that plays perfectly across a broad range of devices.

Our tight integration of HTML5 also allows us to do some pretty unique things – like rapid updates and compliance to new tablets. For example, since we essentially take advantage of what the device already does best, the lead-time to support a new device is extremely low – which means our customers can roll out custom app experiences on new devices faster than ever before.

Taking that a step further, we also use HTML5 to layer additional functionality on top of a standard app experience using native platform ‘widgets’ or consoles – providing a highly customized tablet app for every each and every client.

To our customers – it’s simply the fastest and easiest way to create a highly customized, rich and consistent experience across many platforms – all driven from tools they already use every day like InDesign, Quark and even native XML and content feeds.
What’s more, customers can even ‘drop in’ their own web based widgets and applications – directly into their publications – using standards based technologies their developers are familiar with, and with confidence that it will work across a number of supported platforms.

For us, using HTML5 is a no-brainer, and allows our customers a level of flexibility and scalability with their digital publications that is second to none.

Put simply, adhering and applying HTML5 standards to PressRun provides:

• The most scalable ongoing solution for devices using a common standard inherent to all tablet browsers.
• An extremely flexible and native solution approach, as the core of every client publication is not a proprietary/locked solution, but rather a web standard that has been refined by 20 years of web development and the experience and contributions of the best brains in the best companies.
• A highly customized and performance-rich experience, by taking advantage of what the device does best by delegating the basics of content delivery to HTML5, while PressRun concentrates on layering even more of the “good stuff” on top.
• Cross-platform and cross-team compliance by using common languages and standards with our customers – alongside our tools and plugins for InDesign and Quark – that clients already know how to use!