Advertising with Web Standards - HTML5 Advertising - page 59

Define Your Reach
HTML5 ads will take time to become the standard, but I'm positive you'll see more and more in coming years—especially
as we head into 2013. We are slowly seeing the shift from Flash content to HTML5 on the mobile and desktop Web as
more marketers realize that it's not cost effective to build two versions of the same ad experience to reach every screen.
Until the full switch is made, you can do many things to get moving in the right direction in HTML5 advertising. First,
you've done the best thing so far by reading this topic but also start developing for the emerging web; learn what
features you can use now by going to caniuse.com frequently. Then encourage the use of Google's Chrome Frame,
which allows IE6 and other older browsers to work with new HTML5 features (it works by injecting an invisible
rendering frame into a user's IE browser). Next, educate others to begin leveraging the open web. We all can't push
the industry forward if there are agencies and ad servers still supporting the dated plugin model. Last, always include
graceful failovers especially while in this transitional period. Hitting 100 percent of your user base will be damn near
impossible given a campaign's turnaround time, so be sure to do everything you can to address discrepancies before
they become issues. Remember, after you define your target reach, build with the oldest browser's user base in mind;
iterate on top of that initial foundation with more elaborate features as newer browsers support them. This way all
users, old and new, get an experience they're capable of handling. Not every browser is created the same, so neither
should every ad experience. Once the browser landscape flattens and HTML5's features become widely adopted—we'll
be able to ignore the development woes for older browser versions our users may be on.
Summary
This chapter has reviewed web standards with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript and their effect on advertising as a
whole. You should now be fully briefed in core ad development practices as we prepare to dive into the nuts and
bolts of HTML5 advertisements. In the following chapters, the canvas element, use of web fonts, SVG, animations,
presentations, forms, drag-n-drop, web workers, media, offline storage, and much more will be covered in detail. You
now know both the base language of the industry and some really helpful best practices for getting started. Finally,
if you are curious as to how to help with the specs discussed in this chapter or if you have questions on transitioning
into HTML5, visit whatwg.org/mailing-list#specs and lend a hand in development. There's still time to shape what
the new Web will become! Let's get started.