Corporate communicators are beginning to get to grips with HTML5. Molly Pierce takes a look at the web’s ‘Promised Land’

Recently, I heard HTML5 described as ‘The Promised Land’ of online communication. It sounded like over-exaggeration, to put it mildly. But a closer look at what this new language has meant for corporate communicators has brought that claim into focus.

HTML4, its immediate predecessor, was published in 1997. HTML4.01 was published in 1999, with its last errata corrected in May 2001. Taking into account those variations, there has been a clear decade of waiting for HTML5’s release – a decade in which online communications changed beyond all predictions.

“Primarily, the publication of HTML5 was so delayed because of the shift in complexity of the world it was trying to deal with,” explains Cathal Smyth, managing director of The Group, a leading online corporate communications agency. “The W3C [World Wide Web Consortium: the international standards organisation for the web headed up by Tim Berners-Lee] itself developed from a small body into a global organisation, and all its members have a stake in trying to shape the future of the web.”

Websites created when HTML4 was the latest word in programming provide a jolting contrast with the media-rich capabilities of the internet now. In the wait for HTML5, many programmers used plug-ins to fill the gaps – hence Steve Jobs’ conclusion that Adobe Flash was a temporary measure, and that standards such as HTML5 would overtake it as a means to consume web content, particularly on mobile devices. Adobe seems to have ceded to this view: in November 2011 it announced that it would no longer develop Flash for mobile devices and instead concentrate on utilising HTML5.

“Processing power, bandwidth, complexity – all these elements of the web have gone through the roof since the Millenium,” said Smyth. “The hope is that further progress will be variants on what’s come before – so HTML5 will be able to deal with it. It’s better fit for purpose now than HTML4 was when it was first published, but you never know how the web will evolve.”

The language has its most obvious benefit in web apps. Centrica, the FTSE 100 energy company, recently launched a web app designed by The Group that is based on HTML5. Simon Henderson, director of corporate responsibility and digital media, said that Centrica opted for a web app over a native app – such as iPhone or Android-only apps – for a number of reasons.

“We’d been looking at apps as another communications channel,” he said, “because they’re a way to access information quickly and on the move. We were persuaded for all the right reasons to try HTML5, because it offers all the functionality without requiring a specific device or manual updating.”

As the first FTSE100 company to launch a web app, though, there must have been some risk involved. Henderson says that this was controlled through the excellent relationship between Centrica and The Group, which put its money where its developers’ mouths were: “The Group backed its commitment by contributing to the development costs, and from then on the simplicity and the access made HTML5 an easy sell.”

The main expectation of Centrica’s stakeholders, Henderson believes, was that the app should measure up to the high standards of the website.

“We don’t get a huge amount of direct feedback,” he said, “but the anecdotal response so far has been pretty good. It’s very positive for certain segments, such as IR and media audiences, because it’s flexible and can be reached offline. Internally, it’s also been a hit.” The flexibility of the app and ability to download information for offline perusal are hallmarks of HTML5, but the web app isn’t superceding Centrica’s main site. Choice is the mantra here.

However, the merits of HTML5 don’t just boil down to web apps versus native apps. Smyth believes that it will be crucial in developing relationships between different strands of corporate communications.

“Many of the issues that online corporate communications currently struggle with will have solutions enabled by HTML5,” he said. “At the moment, people are trying to work out how all

the communications strands fit together in an organisation. All these silos are part of the same narrative – and everyone is trying to work out the most efficient way to communicate. Regardless of what wins – whether it’s marketing, internal comms, or any of the other functions, HTML5 should be able to incorporate all those messages.”

It should have exciting implications for corporate reporting, which is also in flux at the moment. Henderson believes it’s a “distinct possibility” that Centrica will extend its use of HTML5 into its online reporting: “I think the answer is yes but the timescale is unsure. But we’re looking forward with confidence to a time when online reporting becomes the norm, because we’ve had early experience with it.”

“The main issue with reporting is that we’re still trapped in ways of communicating that are based in annual printed reports,” says Smyth. “But we think the future holds stripped-down, more regular, ongoing online reporting. When that happens, HTML5 has more sophisticated graphing tools, handling of text, handling of video, clarification in labelling – it’s going to enable us to do a lot more.”

Culturally, HTML5 could have incredible applications for artists and musicians. Arcade Fire have already taken advantage of its capabilities, developing ‘The Wilderness Downtown’, a video with Google, B-Reel and Chris Milk that shows off HTML5’s remarkable interactive abilities. It’s definitely worth a visit.

HTML5 is also enabling Concise to transform its approach to creating apps for clients. It’s developed an interactive system for live events, which allows audience members a whole new level of participation in conferences and seminars.

An internal comms conference for Virgin Atlantic in early 2012 saw attendees given iPads loaded up with the tailored app. HTML5 meant that users could vote on questions put in seminars and saw animated charts and graphs develop in real time on a main screen. Virgin was able to make the best use possible of the limited time available for talking to internal stakeholders and shaping the conference to their needs as the day went on.

Native apps aren’t going away, it seems: one particular success story is the GQ app, which caters to the bespoke taste of its consumers and their comfort with iPad/iPhone-specific engineering. But as Smyth points out, for most companies, it makes sense to take what might seem like a gamble and work with HTML5.

“If you’ve paid for the development of a native iPad app, but now you realise that it doesn’t work well on mobiles, and also that part of your base is on Android, you’re going to have build and develop and pay for a third app,” he said. “But web apps built on intelligent design, built with HTML5 – they’re more flexible, adaptable. It’s a more strategic choice to use the tech that can be built upon.”

Corporate websites and needs are changing at a rapid pace as brands and audiences try to work out simultaneous what works best for them. HTML5 might not be all milk and honey just yet, but it is certainly the web language of now, and hopefully the future. For communicators, the pilgrimage is just beginning.