Use HTML 5 to View YouTube Vids Without Flash

When I saw a version of Google Maps in HTML 5 earlier this year, I was impressed. I simply couldn’t tell the difference between it and a Maps version coded in some true programming language. Next up on the list is YouTube viewer in HTML 5 that works without using Adobe Flash. NeoSmart wrote up a YouTube viewer in HTML 5 and although it might not work on every browser, it does work on Google Chrome on Mac — I was able to watch one of our latest videos directly in my browser without any plug-ins. Here’s what the NeoSmart folks say:

“HTML5 poses the answer providing a way for browsers to use the native implementations to render videos directly in the browser without resorting to ActiveX and 3rd-party browser plugins… it just has yet to be embraced. But now you can uninstall Flash and enjoy your online videos in peace. Just go to http://neosmart.net/YouTube5/ and enter the URL of a video to watch it in the embedded HTML5 viewer. Yes, you can skip, skim, pause, resume away to your heart’s content.”

Of course, I tried this on mobile browsers but they’re simply not there yet. The iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre and T-Mobile G1 all rendered a message saying “You must have an HTML 5 capable browser.” We know that HTML 5 is coming soon — as is Flash for most handsets — but it can’t come soon enough for me on the mobile side. I’d rather not use a dedicated YouTube application to view vids if I can simply watch them more efficiently in a native browser.